Austrian manufacturer KTM managed to get two official drivers from South Africa Brad Connector and Australian Jack Miller He is in the first two practice positions in the official classification for the MotoGP Australian Grand Prix, which will be held at the Phillip Island circuit on Saturday.
Binder was the fastest with a time of 1:27.943 categoryThe team was 148 thousandths of a second ahead of his teammate Miller in the final minutes of training, where he experienced his last moments intensely and saw once again the world leader Italian Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia (Ducati), exclude the Desmosedici GP23).
On the positive side, it was previously possible to appreciate the intensity shown by his compatriot Fabio di Giannantonio (Ducati Desmosedici GP22), who seemed to have made a leap in quality to achieve the seventh best time among his compatriots Marc Bezzecchi (Ducati). Desmosedici GP22) and Enea Bastianini (Ducati Desmosedici GP23). Like ‘Diggia’, this time the Spanish Pol Espargaró (Gas Gas RC 16) stood out with his performance and achieved the fourth fastest time after Jorge Martín (Ducati Desmosedici GP23), who was the fastest of the morning.
Binder took advantage of the opportunity to quickly lead the category at the first opportunity, despite Martín dominating the morning with great authority, although the gap between the top ten finishers was seven-tenths of a second. After the South African pilot’s first fast lap of 1:29.385, there were a number of names that had not yet managed to enter the top 10 in the category, such as the world championship leader Italian pilot. ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, or indeed Spaniard Marc Márquez (Honda RC 213 V), who did not succeed in the end.
AND It didn’t take long for Márquez to star in the twenty-fifth fall of the seasonAt the point where he crashed in the morning, he turned 10 and tried to make one of his famous saves, but this time he failed and had to lift the bike off the ground with almost no equipment. Since the motorcycle was self-starting, the damage was taken into account, but he had to push the motorcycle to his workshop.
Brad Binder, meanwhile, maintained his lead by just 63 thousandths of a second ahead of Spaniard Maverick Viñales (Aprilia RS-GP) and almost three-tenths of a second ahead of Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati Desmosedici GP22). Bezzecchi showed signs of being in much better shape after surgery for a collarbone fracture at the weekend before traveling to Lombok to compete in the Indonesian Grand Prix.
As the minutes ticked by, Binder gained the upper hand on the first stage over Fabio di Giannantonio, one of the few riders whose future in MotoGP is not guaranteed and who is rumored to replace Marc Márquez at Honda in 2024. He did not last long in first position, as the Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati Desmosedici GP23) trailed him by 93 thousandths of a second, but at that time, with twenty minutes of the session still ahead, neither Márquez was there. Bagnaia had secured a place in the second direct division.
Zarco did not benefit much from this privileged position either; He was overtaken by the Spaniards Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia RS-GP) and Augusto Fernández (Gas Gas RC 16), who lapped half a second faster than the French; Starting signal for the official classification challenge. This was evident on the next lap when Maverick Viñales overtook his teammate, but was passed by Jorge Martín for the first stage and shortly afterwards by Johann Zarco and also Brad Binder. Recovering from his fall, Marc Márquez took the wheel of Jorge Martín and managed to enter the second provisional classification with a best of fifth in the first lap, but then dropped a few places.
In the last five minutes, Fabio di Giannantonio came to the fore once again, not following any of the wheels, being alone behind Martin, but Maverick Viñales left them both behind and from those moments the changes at the head of the table changed. almost constant. After Viñales came to the Binder, just in the last two minutes, the Márquez brothers Alex and Marc were fourteenth and fifteenth, while Bagnaia was eighteenth and moved up to eleventh in the first fast lap, and while there was still room to improve, he took his time and entered the second direct classification, keeping the pace. dropped it.
Bagnaia completely misses opportunity to challenge for pole position in Australia and Marc Márquez in sixteenth behind his brother Alex, Alex Rins (Honda RC 213 V) in twelfth or Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha YZR M 1) in seventeenth.