Red Bull KTM Factory Racing chased speed and feeling at the Italian Grand Prix and the second weekend of MotoGP in a row. Brad Binder rode to 10th position at a busy and bright Mugello for six points and moves up to 7th in the championship as teammate Jack Miller made it to the finish in 16th place.
Mugello basked in sunny and warm late Spring weather with only the occasional dark cloud threatening the positive outlook. After the intensity of Saturday qualification and the Sprint, MotoGP formed a grid to tackle 23 laps on Sunday. Brad Binder and Jack Miller slotted into the depths of the pack and with hopes of repeating the same rapid start that Binder accomplished on Saturday when he zoomed from 13th to 4th in the first corners.
The getaways were decent but not as striking as the Sprint and Binder, in particular, began to work and attack from the lower reaches of the top ten. He suffered with front end grip and eventually made sure of 10th. Miller, still coping with the slight effects of a vibration issue that hampered his progress on Saturday, rode to 16th and was a few tenths of a second in front of Pol Espargaro who used the Italian GP as part of a data-gathering exercise and a view towards his testing role.
Binder is 7th in the MotoGP standings and only 16 points from the top five, with Miller in 16th. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing crew rank 7th of 11 crews in pitlane and the company is still the second-best Constructor in the sport, according to the table.
MotoGP will bring a hectic seven-day period of concentration and focus to a close on Monday afternoon. The second one-day official test of the season will now run around Mugello, and is followed by a three-week reprieve before another consecutive tally of dates in the Netherlands and Germany at the end of the month.
Brad Binder, 10th: “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.”
Jack Miller, 16th: “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.”
Pol Espargaro, 17th: “We were not expecting a lot because we wanted to get some data, finish the race and get some information on the tire degradation. The pace was still decent and I was moving forwards with Jack. The guys [Brad and Jack] will use some of the stuff we’ve tried this weekend and because we ran it today it will make their job faster for tomorrow. I think we did a good job overall. We set some targets both for one-lap pace and the full distance.”
Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “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. It was Pol’s first wild card and he did a great job. We have to thank him and we look forward to his next race.”
