Red Bull KTM Factory Racing showed the versatility and competitiveness of the RC16 as Jack Miller powered to 3rd position in sunny conditions around the relentless corners of Sachsenring for the Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland Sprint on Saturday. Brad Binder was also in the mix, watched by a vast crowd, as the South African recorded 6th place in the 15-lap rush.
- Jack Miller grabs the holeshot and conquers the curves in Germany to walk the third step of the podium and his third top three of the season
- Brad Binder uses the power and turning potential of the RC16 to fight for the top five and collects 6th at the flag
- Moto3™ front row honors go to Deniz Öncü in 2nd place with the KTM RC4 as Pedro Acosta celebrates Moto2™ Pole Position for the first time in 2023
The seemingly endless spiral of 13 corners at the Sachsenring offers a short, technical and unique challenge on the MotoGP calendar slate. For the many German MotoGP fans vacant viewing spots were hard to come by on Saturday as the first Sprint and the conventional qualification process got underway with bright skies after a wet start.
Jack Miller, a podium finisher at the venue in 2022, qualified 3rd and on the front row. He made a decent start into Turn 1 and fought with Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin in the opening exchanges. He settled into a comfortable 3rd by mid-race distance. The result is his second top three in the relatively new MotoGP Sprint format.
Brad Binder, who describes the Sachsenring as one of his favorite tracks, set two strong laps at the end of Q1 to make the cut in 1st place. The South African gathered important immediate feeling with slick tires on the drying asphalt and he leapt to the top of the screens early on in Q2. He ended the session in 9th. During the Sprint he was mired in a very tight pursuit of 4th and tried every line and possibility to make a pass but on the final lap he was just pipped to 5th and earned four points for 6th.
The 15-lap MotoGP Sprint will be doubled in length for the full Grand Prix distance tomorrow; a contest that will begin at 14.00 CEST.
Jack Miller, 3rd in qualification, 3rd in the Sprint: “The bike is a rocket off the line! It was good because I had a bit of a mind blank but she carried me into a decent start. I could battle with the boys for a while and was really fast in the first two sectors of the lap but I missed a bit down the hill. We’ve got some homework to do tonight but we hope to be back here [on the podium] tomorrow. We got some decent information and I think we were being kind to the tire today. Just another 15 laps to go tomorrow!”
Brad Binder, 9th in qualification, 6th in the Sprint: “A bit of a tough race today. I had a lot of wheelspin when the bike was upright and that made life hard. Otherwise, everything was OK! I struggled to get past Marini. I tried everything I could but I was just smoking the tire. We know what to fix and I think we’re in a great place for the race tomorrow.”
Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “A nice Saturday. Jack was on the front row and Brad was super in Q1 to go out on a slick tire in damp patchy conditions. The Sprint was exciting: Jack led some laps and took a solid 3rd place and unfortunately Brad was stuck in group and couldn’t move forward. He had contact on the last lap and lost 5th position by a few hundredths of a second. Overall, a positive Saturday because we were fighting where we want to be every week. We’ll try to give the riders an even better bike for tomorrow and we’ll see what else we can achieve.”
Results Qualifying MotoGP Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland
1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati 1:21.409
2. Luca Marini (ITA) Ducati +0.078
3. Jack Miller (AUS) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +0.083
9. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +0.638
Results MotoGP Sprint Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland
1. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati 20:21.871
2. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati +2.468
3. Jack Miller (AUS) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +3.287
6. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +6.289
KTM GP Academy
Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Deniz Öncü was again on the pace and the Turk shrugged off a fall at Turn 11 on Friday to make sure of 2nd place. The ranking means it will be the fourth time this season that Öncü stares at clear track for the race start on Sunday. Championship leader, Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Daniel Holgado, is on the tip of the third row as the Spaniard was 7th fastest with his KTM RC4. Teammate Filippo Farioli achieved entry to the Q2 session and took 18th; only a fraction of a second and one space behind Öncü’s teammate – Jose Rueda – in 17th.
Deniz Öncü: “I was really strong and we have good pace. I still didn’t have the best feeling today but it was enough for P2 and we have more potential. It will be a very long race tomorrow so we need to relax, save the tire, save energy and the last laps will hopefully be nice! No real strategy: we’ll just try to finish the race.”
Warm and dry conditions stretched into the afternoon Moto2 Q2 qualifier. The session was a happy hunting ground for Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Pedro Acosta. The Spanish youngster had already been among the protagonists on Friday with P1 in the Combined Practice standings and stretched his confident streak into the dispute for Pole Position. At the end of Q2 Acosta had P1 – his first of the season – and registered his fifth front row berth. Teammate Albert Arenas roamed the top ten in terms of lap-times and logged 9th for his efforts. The red light will disappear on 25 laps of Moto2 action on Sunday afternoon.
Pedro Acosta: “I was able to follow Sam [Lowes] and that helped me for the lap at an important time. We’ll have to see for tomorrow because nobody could really work on race pace because of the rain. We need to look at tires. I was having some spin in that last session so some work to do for the race tomorrow.”
Sachsenring brought the Northern Talent Cup to MotoGP for the first and only time this season. The exciting Grand Prix feeder series ran the first of two races on Saturday. Hungarian Martin Vincze won by just two hundreds of a second with less than one second splitting the top six youngsters all on KTM equipment.
Results Qualifying Moto3 Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland
1. Ayumu Sasaki (JPN) Husqvarna 1:25.130
2. Deniz Öncü (TUR) Red Bull KTM Ajo +1.092
3. Ivan Ortola (ESP), KTM +1.155
7. Daniel Holgado (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +1.696
17. Jose Rueda (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +2.462
18. Filippo Farioli (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +2.564
Results Qualifying Moto2 Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland
1. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo 1:23.858
2. Tony Arbolino (ITA) +0.269
3. Jake Dixon (GBR) +0.300
9. Albert Arenas (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.522
