Seventh place for Brad Binder in the San Marino GP Sprint Race
MotoGP embarked on a second Grand Prix in a row by arriving to the hot and sunny climes of the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli located on Italy’s east coast and Brad Binder turned up the heat further by racing hard to 7th position in the thirteenth Sprint of 2024. The South African placed inside the top ten after setting off from 6th on the grid.
Misano welcomed Grand Prix for the thirtieth time and since the first FIM world championship meeting around the flat, 4.2km coastal venue 44 years ago. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing were looking to build on their decent form from the Aragon GP in Spain the previous weekend but around a markedly different circuit with the high grip conditions and mix of tight sections and fast zones.
Both Brad and teammate Jack Miller were on the pace through Friday. Brad was unlucky to be nudged to 11th in the last few seconds of the one-hour session. He had to refocus for Q1 and was only half a second from the all-time lap record to make it into Q2. In the 15-minute dash Brad carried his momentum onwards and ranked a decent 6th, 0.4 from the best effort for the last slot on the second row.
The Sprint got underway Saturday afternoon. Brad made a positive launch and was running in P4 in the formative laps. He then fought all the way to the line to defend his position from Jack who had roamed forwards and occupied 8th, less than a second behind.
Brad Binder
6th in qualification, 7th in the Sprint:“I knew today would be a long day. It was great to get through Q1 and we had a decent qualifying and nice to be on the second row. I knew if I had a good jump behind the guys I could get pulled along but unfortunately I just didn’t have the pace today. I was struggling with the front end and I felt like I was not carrying the corner speed. It’s clear what direction we need to go in for tomorrow so I’m confident for the race.”