Mugello, Italy – A warm and sunny day greeted the thousands of MotoGP fans excited by the prospect of the Italian GP. Brad Binder’s brilliant launch of the starting line in Saturday’s Sprint Race was still fresh in our memory.
Grip was once again a cause for concern over the weekend and it would be something the both Red Bull KTM riders needed to think about once the lights went out. Binder lined up 13th for Sunday’s 23-lap race, meanwhile Jack Miller started near the back of the grid in 18th leaving both riders with a tall order to score value Championship points.
As the lights went out, both riders looked to continue strong starts we’ve seen from the team this season. Their getaways were good, but not quite the same as Binder’s launch on Saturday which propelled him from 13th to 4th by the first couple corners.
Miller did take some crucial positions early on and was up to 13th by Lap 3 while Brad had made progress of his own up to positions to 11th. With a focus on managing the tyres, both riders looked to settle into their positions for the race and hope for opportunities for a late push into the points.
Despite his strong start, Miller began to fall back in the order as the degradation of his tyres fluctuated. After the race, the Australian said, “it wasn’t until 6-7 laps into the race and the rear dropped that everything was a bit more balanced.” Ultimately Jack came home 18th while his teammate Brad grabbed the last of the points with a 10th-placed finish.
Red Bull KTM Wildcard, Pol Espargaro, finished in 19th but helped collect valuable data for the team who have stayed put in Mugello for another test session on Monday.
Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager, summarised a tough weekend for the team, “Brad’s weekend was affected by that touch of the green track limits on Friday. It started from there, and although he made a great start in the Sprint he couldn’t do it today and got stuck around 10th place.
“Overall, he improved a lot in terms of race speed from last year but the leading group improved even more; the amount of time is crazy. Almost twenty seconds!
“We have to keep working because we are not shining with Jack like we should. He is struggling with the feeling, and we have to help him get out of this period. I hope we can make some progress in the test tomorrow and then use the three-week break to rest and gather our energy for improvements.”
Moving up a place in the Riders’ Championship standings to 7th, Brad Binder said, “For sure we expected more today but the reality is that once we started rolling we just didn’t have the pace to go with the guys in front.
“I tried my best but when I started to push I kept losing the front and couldn’t hold the line well. It was a tricky race today and we’re lucky we have a test tomorrow because we have a lot of ideas and we’d like to find a direction to work in.”
Following the race, Jack Miller said: “We battled along, and it was a lot of work for no points but I was really suffering with the front end at the start and it wasn’t until 6-7 laps into the race and the rear dropped that everything was a bit more balanced.
“I was able to get a decent rhythm at one point and make some passes at the end. It’s no secret that we’ve struggled this weekend and we made a lot of changes and I’m really looking forward to the test tomorrow to try and sort it out.”
Following Monday’s Official MotoGP Test, the competition will take a 3-week break and resume in Assen on the 28th of June.