27.10.2024

5th place and so close to Thai MotoGP™ podium honors for Miller

MotoGP 2024 - Round 18 of 20, Buriram, Thai – Race

Jack Miller KTM MotoGP 2024 Thailand Sunday © KTM Images/Polarity Photo

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A damp Grand Prix of Thailand produced another memorable chapter of a long 2024 MotoGP championship campaign and the soaking circuit at Buriram was a platform for Jack Miller and Brad Binder to show off their bravery and skills with the KTM RC16 once more. Miller rode to 5th position after launching from 15th on the grid and was holding a podium place for most of the race while Binder ran with the leaders and was 6th.

Miller notches his best result of 2024 in slippery and difficult conditions at Buriram, chasing through the top ten to hold 3rd place for long stretches of the 26-lap distance
Binder plants himself in the top six for the duration of the Grand Prix and manages his pace and grip to score 10 points
Deniz Öncü obtains a top ten finish in the Moto2™ race

Friday was hot and sunny, Saturday humid and cloudy and race day produced wet conditions for the eighteenth MotoGP dispute of the season at Buriram and the fifth-ever Grand Prix of Thailand. Circulating an immaculate 12-corner and 4.5km circuit populated with an 85,000 crowd, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing not only had their eye on the best possible results with the KTM RC16 but also the run to Malaysia and Spain to close the championship and open the first step to 2025 with the next official MotoGP test only three-and-a-half weeks away.

Binder and Miller started the 26-lap Grand Prix from the sides of the fifth row. Cutting through the gloom and the spray in the first two laps the South African had recovered ground to be roaming the top five while the Australian carved his way through and soon overtook his teammate to reach P4. Jack was then in the running for the podium and only a late attack by Pedro Acosta bumped him away from the Prosecco. Brad crossed the line in 6th and just three tenths behind.

Two rounds and a maximum of 74 points lay on the table for the rest of 2024. Binder is 5th in the standings. Miller is 14th and KTM sit 6th from 11 in the Teams contest while they rank 2nd in the Constructors championship.

MotoGP immediately moves on to another tropical climate and to the penultimate race of the year with the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit next weekend.

Jack Miller, 5th: “A good race. A long old one. The first laps were a bit hairy and the spray was hectic and so was the carnage. I found my way through to 4th and when Marc threw it down I was 3rd for a while. I was really suffering from the front end as I’d cooked the front tire and all my roll speed has pretty much gone. With three laps to go there was nothing left and I was being hunted. I gave it all I could to be on the podium but it wasn’t to be. It was a good race though and good pace. Consistent and perhaps coming through the pack cost us the most and put the most stress on the tire. I really wanted that podium.”

Brad Binder, 6th: “I knew it would be important to get to the front early because of the spray and that worked out pretty well. I felt really comfortable to thanks to my guys for the changes we made because I felt great in the wet. It was just a shame that I had squared the tire by the last four or five laps and was just spinning a lot. Hard to drive out of the corners. I wanted more but having started 13th and scoring 6th then that’s all we had today.”

Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “The visibility in the first laps was crazy but both Jack and Brad recovered a lot of positions and we had 3rd until two laps from the end. We missed the podium by almost nothing. The conditions were hard, a mess, and to stay-up was a miracle. Congratulations to our guys for their job and we’ll look forward to Sepang.”

Thai Grand Prix photographs can be found HERE

Results MotoGPThai Grand Prix

1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati 43:38.108

2. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati +2.905

3. Pedro Acosta (ESP) GASGAS +3.800

5. Jack Miller (AUS) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +5.532

6. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +5.898

DNF. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) GASGAS

World Championship standings MotoGP

1. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati, 453 points

2. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati, 436

3. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati, 356

5. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 203

6. Pedro Acosta (ESP) GASGAS, 197

14. Jack Miller (AUS) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 82

21. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) GASGAS, 21

KTM GP Academy

Moto3 saw the Red Bull KTM Ajo team in contention for maximum points and positions as the shortened 12-lap chase began under cloudy skies and on a wet (then drying) track. Jose Antonio Rueda steered his KTM RC4 from 16th on the grid into the third group going for the top fifteen. Xabi Zurutusa had to recover from 21st place. By the flag Rueda was 15th but was demoted one position for passing under waved yellow flags into the final corner and his countryman classified 18th.

Deniz Öncü was the team’s sole rep in Moto2 as Celestino Vietti did not pass a fitness test with his fractured shoulder. The Turk had made his way into Q2 and then set the 16th fastest lap-time in Saturday qualifying. The turn in the weather meant the 22-laps of Moto2 took place in dry but dark conditions and with the ever-present threat of rain. The race actually lasted for only 20 laps before a shower brought proceedings to a halt and Öncü was running 10th at the time. He therefore logged P10 in the classification at the red flag.

Results Moto3 Thai Grand Prix

1. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO 20:29.345

2. Luca Lunetta (ITA) Honda +0.353

3. Collin Veijer (NED) Husqvarna +522

10. Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN) Husqvarna +8.308

12. Daniel Holgado (ESP) GASGAS +11.640

15. Jacob Roulstone (AUS) GASGAS +17.090

16. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +16.945
18. Xabi Zurutuza (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +19.439

DNF. Joel Esteban (ESP) CFMOTO

World Championship standings Moto3

1. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO, 371 points (Champion)

2. Daniel Holgado (ESP) GASGAS, 236