Throughout the Italian Grand Prix and the second consecutive MotoGP weekend, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pursued speed and emotion. A bustling and bright Mugello saw Brad Binder ride to 10th place for six points, moving him up to 7th in the championship standings as teammate Jack Miller finished in 16th place.
At a warm Mugello, Binder attempts to get off to the same explosive beginning as the Saturday Sprint but is unable to challenge the top five competitors during the longer 23-lap course.
Miller crosses the finish line in 16th place, just ahead of Pol Espargaro, who completes his first wildcard of the year, after making a persistent attempt to overcome his technical issue in Italy.
Celestino Vietti and Deniz Öncü, Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders, sneak into the points for the seventh round of the season.
Mugello enjoyed beautiful, sunny weather in late spring, with the occasional ominous cloud threatening the lovely day. Following the intense qualifying and sprint events on Saturday, MotoGP assembled a grid to face 23 laps on Sunday. Jack Miller and Brad Binder dropped into the back of the pack in an attempt to duplicate Binder’s explosive start from Saturday, when he shot from 13th to 4th in the opening corners.
Although not as impressive as the Sprint, the escapes were respectable. Binder, in particular, started to work and attack from the lower regions of the top ten. After struggling with front end grip, he eventually secured the tenth position. Miller raced to 16th place, only tenths of a second ahead of Pol Espargaro, who used the Italian GP as a data-gathering exercise and a preview of his testing role. Miller was still dealing with the mild impacts of a vibration issue that hindered his progress on Saturday.
Miller is in 16th place in the MotoGP standings, with Binder in seventh place, just 16 points behind the top five. Based on the chart, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing is still the second-best constructor in the competition, with its crew ranking seventh out of 11 teams in pitlane.
MotoGP will conclude a busy seven days of focus and attention on Monday afternoon. Now, the second one-day official test of the season will take place around Mugello. There will be a three-week break before another series of dates in the Netherlands and Germany at the end of the month.
Brad Binder, tenth place: “We certainly had higher expectations for the day, but the truth is that we simply couldn’t keep up with the riders ahead of us once we got going. I did my best, but as soon as I started to push, I found it difficult to maintain the line and kept losing the front. We’re fortunate to have a test tomorrow since we have a lot of ideas and would like to determine a course of action after today’s challenging race.
Jack Miller, who finished in 16th place, said, “We battled through, and it was a lot of work for no points, but at the beginning I was really having trouble with the front end, and it wasn’t until the rear dropped and the race was about 6-7 laps in that everything became a little more balanced.” At one point, I was able to establish a respectable rhythm and finish with a few passes. It’s no secret that we had difficulties over the weekend. We’ve made a lot of adjustments, and I’m eager to see how things work out in the test tomorrow.
Pol Espargaro, who placed 17th, said, “We didn’t have high expectations because our main goals were to collect data, complete the race, and learn more about tire degradation.” I was still moving forward with Jack at a respectable rate. Some of the stuff we tried this weekend will be put to use by the boys [Brad and Jack], and because we ran it today, it will expedite their work for tomorrow. Overall, I believe we did a fantastic job. We have goals for both the entire distance and the pace of one lap.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager Francesco Guidotti: “That Friday touch of the green track limits affected Brad’s weekend.” From then on, even though he had a strong start in the Sprint, he was unable to continue and ended up in about tenth place today. Overall, he made significant progress from the previous year in terms of race speed, but the leading group made much more progress—the time difference is astounding.Nearly twenty seconds! We are not shining with Jack as much as we should, therefore we need to keep working. We must assist him in overcoming this phase as he is having difficulty with the emotion. I’m hoping that we can improve a little bit on the test tomorrow and then utilize the three-week break to recuperate and refuel. For Pol, it was his first wild card, and he performed admirably. We must express our gratitude to him and eagerly await his upcoming race.
Italy’s MotoGP Grand Prix results
1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) 40:51.385 on the Ducati
2. Ducati +0.799 Enea Bastianini (ITA)
3. Jorge Martin (ESP) +0.924 Ducati
5. Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 +7.501 Pedro Acosta (ESP)
10. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder (RSA) +15.901
16. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +28.417 Jack Miller (AUS)
17. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pol Espargaro (ESP) +28.778
DNF Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 Augusto Fernandez (ESP).
MotoGP World Championship standings 1. 171 points for Jorge Martin (ESP) on a Ducati
2. Ducati, Francesco Bagnaia (ITA), 153
3. Ducati, Marc Marquez (ESP), 136
5. Red Bull GASGAS Tech3, Pedro Acosta (ESP), 101
7. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder (RSA), 85
16. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jack Miller (AUS), 27
17. Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez (ESP), 13
