04.08.2024

Jack Miller takes unique 75th anniversary livery to Grand Prix points at British MotoGP™

MotoGP 2024 - Round 10 of 20, Silverstone, Great Britain – Race

Jack Miller KTM MotoGP 2024 Great Britain Sunday © KTM Images/Polarity Photo

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Red Bull KTM Factory Racing honored MotoGP past and showed their dedication for MotoGP present at Silverstone today. Jack Miller took the one-off 75th anniversary design for the KTM RC16 to 12th place in Great Britain. Brad Binder was forced out of the running as the season entered the second half of the calendar with the trip to the UK.

Top 12 and four points for Miller as Red Bull KTM push ahead with their quest for maximum competitiveness in 2024
Binder suffers a clutch issue from the start and has to retire from the Grand Prix
Jose Antonio Rueda is again one of the fastest riders in Moto3™ and was 1.5 seconds from the win for the Red Bull KTM Ajo squad with the KTM RC4. Celestino Vietti marks a first podium finish in Moto2™ for the Ajo crew

Sunday at Silverstone was cool and cloudy but, thankfully, dry for the 20-lap British Grand Prix. Brad Binder and Jack Miller had grabbed 4th and 7th positions in the Saturday Sprint at the long course and collection of fast, flowing corners. The team then changed the colors of the factory KTM RC16s to run the company’s special livery to join MotoGP’s 75th anniversary celebration (see HERE for a concise explanation behind the design). The duo logged P1 and P3 in morning warm-up to begin the day at full tilt.

Binder launched from 6th and the second row of the grid but it was immediately clear he had a technical issue and could not complete the lap. Miller was a little further back as the MotoGP pack had to run a smart pace and conserve race tires for the full 118km distance. Jack fought for the top ten but eventually had to ease to 12th. Miller gathered 4 points and sits 16th in the table. MotoGP heads to another historic venue with the trip to the Red Bull Ring in Austria and the eighth year of premier class home Grand Prix action for the company.

Jack Miller, 12th: “I was trying to get the rear tire to work and was cycling through the maps I had. It was tricky to get the bike to stop: a weird one, maybe because of the lower temperatures. Some points on the board anyway, and some info in the books so hopefully we’ll keep getting better. We’re trying our best every weekend and we have really strong points and I hope we can take advantage of them in Austria.”

Brad Binder, DNF: “Not much to say. Unfortunately, I had a small clutch issue and could not get away from the line. I tried to get back to the pits to change bikes but had to park it. This morning we’d made some changes to the bike and it was the fastest I’d been all weekend on the medium tire. We know it would have been a hard race all the way to the end but we’d been fastest in warm-up, so that’s something at least. My crew are working so hard, and we tried something different for today. We’ll have to try again in Austria.”

Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Sometimes we are reminded that this is motorsport! The weekend started so well and then did not finish as we wished. I think we have to look towards the positives and that we had good feedback on the parts we tested, qualifying was strong and we had good speed. Today was obviously not what we expected, including Jack’s lack of rear grip because we were quite sure about the tire choice. We’ll look forward to the next race – our home race - where we will concentrate all our efforts. We’ll also have Pol [Espargaro] with us. Let’s go for it.”

British Grand Prix photographs can be found HERE

Results MotoGP British Grand Prix

1. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Ducati 39:51.879

2. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati +1.931

3. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati +5.866

9. Pedro Acosta (ESP) GASGAS +16.386

12. Jack Miller (AUS) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +25.767

17. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) GASGAS +37.605

DNF. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

World Championship standings MotoGP

1. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati, 241

2. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati, 238 points

3. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Ducati, 192

6. Pedro Acosta (ESP) GASGAS, 122

7. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 114

16. Jack Miller (AUS) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 42

17. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) GASGAS, 15

KTM GP Academy

Moto3 opened proceedings at Silverstone and where 15-laps sorted the fastest young riders into intense pockets of action where slipstreaming and catching a tow were key factors. Red Bull KTM’s Jose Antonio Rueda was a force inside the tussle for the first group of 11 runners and as the race counted down to the decisive final laps. Contact and extremely close maneuvers littered the last laps. The frantic proximity of the riders is best summarized by Jose’s final standing: P9 but less than 1.5 seconds behind the winner! Nevertheless, the points represented a step back to form after his DNF in Germany last month. Xabi Zurutuza, making his debut at Silverstone, crashed out on the fifth lap and through Turn 11.

Red Bull KTM Ajo had to wait until after the MotoGP race for Moto2 to take to the grid. Celestino Vietti throttled away from 4th place on the grid and the Italian, who has been gathering speed, confidence and fitness after his early season injury was again a menace at the front of the field. Vietti battled for the final podium spot and beat championship leader Sergio Garcia for his first trophy of the campaign with a sensational last lap of attacking prowess. Marcel Schrötter turned out for the team for the third time to replace the recovering Deniz Öncü and the German classified 17th.

Celestino Vietti: “I was maybe managing the rear tire too much at the beginning, I was feeling good with the front all weekend but was not too sure about the rear. I made some mistakes in the middle of the group but I felt I had something more and could overtake the other riders. I’m really happy. It’s been a long time waiting for this feeling and we have to restart from here and continue like this.”

Results Moto3 British Grand Prix

1. Ivan Ortola (ESP) KTM 32:42.328

2. David Alonso (COL) GASGAS +0.123

3. Collin Veijer (NED) Husqvarna +0.226

4. Daniel Holgado (ESP) GASGAS +0.333

9. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +1.431

10. Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN) Husqvarna +1.537

13. Joel Esteban (ESP) CFMOTO +12.642

17. Jacob Roulstone (AUS) GASGAS +23.059

DNF. Xabi Zurutuza (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo

World Championship standings Moto3

1. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO, 199 points