22.09.2018

5th row for Smith in Aragon, Moto2 Pole for Binder but Espargaro misses out again

QUALIFYING 14th Rd. MotoGP 2018 – MotorLand Aragon (ESP)
Bradley Smith KTM RC16 MotorLand Aragon 2018 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library

This press release has: 19 Images
Bradley Smith continued vital development work with the Red Bull KTM RC16 around the fast and technical curves of the MotorLand Aragon circuit and classified 16th today while closing on Q2 pace. Teammate Pol Espargaro suffered some bad luck in FP3 when a crash led to a reinjured collarbone and means the Spaniard misses another home round of the 2018 series. Red Bull KTM Ajo's Brad Binder took his first pole postion on the KTM Moto2 bike.
MotoGP
Hot conditions greeted the second day of work and set-up focus for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team at MotorLand Aragon for the fourteenth round of nineteen in 2018 MotoGP and the last European stop before the long overseas stint to Thailand, Japan, Australia and Malaysia.

After some positive speed and signs on Friday – with both Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro getting on the pace with the KTM RC16 and pondering which tyre would be suitable for Sunday’s 23 lap race – Saturday began on a sour note with Espargaro hitting the ground at Turn 15 and suffering a recurrence of the broken left collarbone that caused him to sit out the (eventually aborted) British Grand Prix.

Mike Leitner (Team Manager MotoGP): "Pol has had an operation of a fracture of his left collarbone in the evening, that has been fixed with a titanium plate. He will remain the next 24 hours at the Hospital Universitario Quirón Dexeus (Barcelona), and he will begin with the functional recovery process in his left shoulder in the next 48 hours. The whole team will back him up in this tough period of his career and will do everything to come back even stronger together." 

Smith was rapid in Free Practice 3 and was less than a tenth of a second from the top eleven of the chrono. The Brit was left to represent the team in the afternoon and had a promising lap attack ruined in Q1 by slower riders on the final Turn 16. Smith, who was just 1.4 seconds from Pole Sitter Jorge Lorenzo, will start the race tomorrow from the fifth row in 15th position after both Maverick Vinales and Franco Morbidelli were penaliesed for going slow on Smith's fastest lap with plus three and six psotions on the grid for the race tomorrow.
 
Smith: “I felt good on soft tyres this morning and was close to making it straight through to Q2 and then during Q1 on the last lap I was coming up to Q2 pace again and riders sitting in the last corner held me up. Anyway I cannot do much about it. It would have been nice to go straight through. I struggled a little bit in FP4 and missed a bit of outright pace. We’ll work a bit more in warm-up but tyres are still a question mark. It could be between the 40s-50s tomorrow for track temperature. We know that when the tyre starts spinning then there is a lot of overheating and a massive drop in performance. It’s gonna be key to look after the tyre.”
 
Sebastian Risse (Technical Director MotoGP): “It took a while for us to bring this new set-up to the circuit but as we work the problems we face then our job become clearer and this is a positive. Depending on the conditions and the tyres available here at Aragon the results can go quite up and down. On the one hand it was quite obvious which ones worked best but then also clear we wouldn't have enough. Sometimes you have to compromise, and that worked well with the track temperatures in FP3 but we struggled a bit more in FP4. We know why and we can do better. We are disappointed with the situation in Qualifying and we see that riders cruising and looking around can create dangerous situations in other classes. It happened to an extent in MotoGP today. I guess this is part of racing and led to that result today. We know our pace and we could have been into Q2. Overall this is one of our better qualifications of the season and we’re quite happy with the package, but we are also very unhappy and sad about the situation with Pol: it was great to have him back and getting stronger but now he is out again. We’re struggling, and it means decisions for 2019 (work) are a little bit upside down; we’ll have to make the best out of it in the next weeks.”

Moto2 & Moto3
Former Moto3 World Champion Brad Binder scorched to his first ever Moto2 Pole Position today with the Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM Moto2 machine. On a weekend where the 2019 engine concept for the category was officially handed over to the championship, Binder shone ahead of Marcel Schrotter to gather his first ‘Tissot Watch Award’. 
 
Binder: "We’ve had very good pace throughout the weekend but I didn’t think I could get into the fight for pole, so it’s an unexpected result. On the last lap, I was thinking that the work for the race was already done, so I decided to put in a crazy last lap. Over the course of the weekend we’ve confirmed the good feelings we had in the Valencia test, where we found small changes in the set-up of the bike that make the difference. Moto2 is a very close category and those details are important. I didn’t expect to be able to, but I’ve done it and I’ve set my first pole in the Moto2 class. At this Grand Prix we are stronger than we have been all season. Also, in the race I always step up, so tomorrow I will go out to give it my best, keeping my concentration, and see how far we are able to go."

In Moto3 Bester Capital Dubai’s Jaume Masia is 2nd on the grid with his KTM RC250 GP while Dennis Foggia and Marco Bezzecchi are also in the top six.

Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup
Deniz Öncü won his second race of the year and has one hand firmly on second place in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup after a thrilling penultimate race of the 2018 season. Motorland Aragón proved the perfect venue for the 15-year-old Turk to display his talent and racecraft as he flashed across the line just ahead of local hero Xavi Artigas. It was another fabulous KTM RC250 RB contest with a whole string of different leaders including 15-year-old Spaniard Carlos Tatay who would eventually finish third. No one could get clean away until the last three laps. One of the few stars not in that lead battle was Cup winner Can Öncü who languished in tenth, where he qualified.
 
D. Öncü: “I am incredibly happy with the win. It was a very hard race, it was hot and I was thirsty. I was fighting at the front all the way but it was impossible to break away. I decided to play it cool until five or six laps to go and then pushed. Artigas was in front by a second or two and I went after him. We got away from the other riders and I passed him. Then I just concentrated on really making a perfect last lap so he couldn't get me. It was a great race, the bike was fantastic and such a close battle, you can see the marks on my leathers.”

Races: September 23, 2018 – Moto3 11:00 | Moto2 12:20 | MotoGP 14:00 CET | Red Bull Rookies Cup 15:30

Results Qualifying MotoGP MotorLand Aragon 2018 

1. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP), Ducati, 1:46.881 min
2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA), Ducati, +0.014 sec
3. Marc Marquez (ESP), Honda, +0.079
4. Cal Crutchlow (GBR), Honda, +0.265
5. Andrea Iannone (ITA), Suzuki, +0.288
KTM
16. Bradley Smith (GBR), KTM, +1.335 (P15 on the grid due to grid penalties)
DNS Pol Espargaro (ESP), KTM (crash FP3, broken collarbone)


Results Qualifying Moto2 MotorLand Aragon 2018 
1. Brad Binder (RSA), KTM, 1:53.149 min
2. Marcel Schroetter (GER), Kalex, +0.074 sec
3. Jorge Navarro (ESP), Kalex, +0.108
4. Alex Marquez (ESP), Kalex, +0.108
5. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA), Kalex, +0.126
KTM
18. Miguel Oliveira (POR), KTM, +0.862


Results Qualifying Moto3 MotorLand Aragon 2018 
1. Jorge Martin (ESP), Honda, 1:57.066 min
2. Jaume Masia (ESP), KTM, +0.537 sec
3. Enea Bastianini (ESP), Honda, +0.593
4. Tony Arbolino (ITA), Honda, +0.708
5. Dennis Foggia (ITA), KTM, +0.725
KTM
6. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA), KTM, +0.789
8. Gabriel Rodrigo (ESP), KTM, +0.871
26. Darryn Binder (RSA), KTM, +1.986

Results Race 1 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup MotorLand Aragon 2018
All riders on KTM RC250 RB bikes
1. Deniz Öncü (TUR), 30:45.838 min (15 laps)
2. Xavier Artigas (ESP), +0.548 sec 
3. Carlos Tatay (ESP), +4.736
4. Steward Garcia (COL), +5.108
5. Adrian Carrasco (ESP), +5.271
 
Standings Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup 2018 after 11 of 12 races
1. Can Öncü (TUR), 227
2. D. Öncü, 167
3. Artigas, 155
4. Filip Salač (CZE), 142
5. Tatay, 128

>> LINK MOTO2 PICTURES KTM MEDIA LIBRARY
>> LINK MOTO3 PICTURES KTM MEDIA LIBRARY

PHILIPP GRÜNBERGER
PR MANAGER MOTOGP
philipp.gruenberger@ktm.com
0043 664 6217921

www.motogp.com
www.ktm.com | media.ktm.com 
Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Instagram
Get all contents of this press release as .zip: Direct download Save to Lightbox

Images (19)

Bradley Smith KTM RC16 MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 2 081 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Bradley Smith KTM RC16 MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 1 983 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Bradley Smith KTM RC16 MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 1 877 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Bradley Smith KTM RC16 MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 1 895 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Bradley Smith KTM RC16 MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 2 023 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Pol Espargaro KTM RC16 MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 1 998 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Staff Pol Espargaro KTM RC16 Pit Lane MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 2 000 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Brad Binder & Team Parc Ferme MotorLand Aragon 2018
4 928 x 3 280 © Gold and Goose / KTM Media Library
Brad Binder Box MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 1 899 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Brad Binder KTM Moto2 MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 1 939 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Brad Binder & Miguel Oliveira KTM Moto2 MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 1 982 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Miguel Oliveira KTM Moto2 MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 2 033 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Miguel Oliveira & Mechanic KTM Moto2 Pit Lane MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 2 002 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Jaume Masia & Team KTM RC250 GP Parc Ferme MotorLand Aragon 2018
4 523 x 3 015 © Gold and Goose / KTM Media Library
Jaume Masia KTM RC250 GP MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 045 x 2 033 © Gold and Goose / KTM Media Library
Marco Bezzecchi KTM RC250 GP MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 1 939 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Darryn Binder KTM RC250 GP MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 000 x 1 858 © Sebas Romero / KTM Media Library
Deniz Öncü & Xavier Artigas KTM RC250 RB MotorLand Aragon 2018
3 206 x 2 043 © Gold and Goose / Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup
Xavier Artigas, Deniz Öncü & Carlos Tatay Podium MotorLand Aragon 2018
4 199 x 2 799 © Gold and Goose / Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup


Contact

KTM Racing Newsletter