Moto2 Germany: Binder back to winning ways at Sachsenring
Brad Binder took control at the front to win the Moto2 German Grand Prix at Sachsenring, round nine of the championship.
The Red Bull KTM rider made his way through from his tenth-place qualifying spot, picking up two places in the opening corner and soon joined the lead group with team-mate Miguel Oliveira and two other riders also hunting for their first win - rookie Joan Mir and Luca Marini.
In the closing stages Binder started to pull out a lead on the Red Bull KTM Ajo machine and looked good for the win, lapping consistently to lead over the line despite getting little grip from his degrading rear tyre to win by 0.779s.
Binder becomes the first South African to win in the intermediate class since Kork Ballington graced the top step at the Nurburgring back in 1980.
Mir survived a last-lap lunge to hold on to second place – his best result so far in his first year in the class made all the more impressive after qualifying down in eighth on the EG 0,0 Marc VDS Kalex.
Marini couldn’t find a way past the Spaniard so took the final podium spot for Sky Racing Team VR46, converting his first front row start into a maiden podium finish.
Fourth went to Miguel Oliveira, who could not quite bridge the gap back to the rostrum places, however the Red Bull KTM rider reduces the championship lead Francesco Bagnaia has over him to just seven points.
The Moto2 championship leader was pushed into the gravel by Mattia Pasini when he crashed at the beginning of the race - Bagnaia fell to 26th and climbed up to fifteenth, where he stayed for much of the race before snatching twelfth on the closing lap with his Sky Racing VR46 machine.
Sam Lowes enjoyed a race long battle with Marcel Scrotter, which he was behind in until the final corner where he slipped past for fifth place for Swiss Innovative Investors - leaving the Dynavolt Intact GP rider to settle for sixth at his home grand prix.
Schrotter’s team-mate Xavi Vierge led the chasing pack over the line in seventh holding off Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing) in eighth with Fabio Quartararo, who crashed hard in warm-up, passing Jorge Navarro (Gresini) in the run to the line to claim ninth as the top Speed Up rider with just a thousandth of a second separating the pair.
It’s not long since Remy Gardner broke both his legs but the Australian continues to gain momentum despite his recent injuries, taking eleventh for Tech 3, his best result since coming back to the paddock.
Bagnaia was 12th, with the battle for the remaining points being won by Alex Marquez who faded to 13th after his huge off yesterday for EG 0,0 Marc VDS with Dominique Aegerter in 14th with his Kiefer Racing team and Augusto Fernandez in 15th for Pons HP40.
The medium tyre option was removed as it was not thought able to go race distance seemed to contribute to several early crashes, pole man Pasini was the first to wobble out from second, swiftly followed by Lorenzo Baldassarri who flew over the turns at the start of the circuit. Andrea Locatelli was another early faller along with Stefano Manzi, who pushed too hard to make up his three-place grid penalty for causing the crash with Fuligni in FP2. He re-joined the race, but was last and seven laps down at the end of the race.
Danny Kent was next out leaving eighth position at the final corner with 21 laps still to run. Isaac Vinales retired to the pits midway through the race.
Tetsuta Nagashima and wild-card Xavi Cardelus were both handed ride through penalties for jump starts, Nagashima fell before getting to serve his, Cardelus crashed and re-joined for 24th, he was also lapped in the race.
Jules Danilo recorded a DNS after bike issues on the grid.
Niki Tuuli was withdrawn from the weekend before qualifying following pain from the finger he lost a part of in Assen.
