A promising first day for Brad at Assen

The Dutch Grand Prix began in a positive fashion for the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team on Friday, with both riders fighting throughout the sessions for the top positions. Brad Binder improved on his time from the morning by a second in the FP2, which saw him finish the day as Friday’s fastest rider.

The South African was strong and competitive throughout FP1, riding in the top 5 for most of the session. Ultimately, Brad finished 8th – 1:38.328 – in a very tight practice, with 24 riders lapping within less than a second off each other.

In the afternoon, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders both made big strides, each lapping in the top five in the early part of FP2, improving on their own benchmarks from the morning. Thanks to a perfect final lap, Brad grabbed the first spot of the practice and of the opening day overall – with 1:37.398.

Given today’s results, both Brad and teammate Jorge Martin are provisionally placed among the riders qualified for Q2, with FP3 still to come tomorrow. The Moto2 Q1 session will start at 3:05 pm on Saturday, followed by Q2 at 3:30 pm.

#41 BRAD BINDER
“We’re happy with the result we got today. In the morning it was a bit harder, as we had some chatter problems, but when we changed the tyres the feeling improved a lot. The positive point is that we were fast; however there is still a lot of work to be done and we need to fine tune the setup. Tonight we’re going to review everything we did throughout the day and come up with a good strategy for tomorrow, in order to stay in Q2, so that we can qualify in a good position on the grid. Of course, this is the best start to a weekend so far, compared with previous races.”