Moto2™. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brad Binder wins in Aragon.

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Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brad Binder produced a flawless ride at the Gran Premio Michelin® de Aragon to secure his second win of 2019. Jorge Navarro (HDR Heidrun Speed Up) claimed his fourth second of the season to get the better of Championship leader Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), as there was first lap drama for Augusto Fernandez (FlexBox HP 40).

After a magnificent getaway, Binder grabbed the holeshot ahead of Marquez and Fernandez to lead the way, with Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) also getting a great start to launch himself into P2. Binder wasn’t hanging about on the opening lap as he started to stretch away, but a huge twist in the title race then unfolded at Turn 9. Tucked in behind main Championship rival Marquez, Fernandez lost the front and slid out of contention on Lap 1. The Spaniard remounted but his hopes of a third win on the spin had ended.

At the end of Lap 1, Binder held a 0.7 advantage over Marini and Marquez, with Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Navarro also in hot pursuit as the top five made a break at the front. Marquez and Marini were embroiled in a great scrap for second, with Navarro setting two consecutive fastest laps to get past Lüthi and onto the tailpipes of the riders in P2 and P3, with Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) now starting to close in on the top quintet. With Marquez and Marini swapping paint, Binder was racing clear as his lead reached the two second mark on Lap 11. That lap saw slight contact between Marini and Marquez at Turn 5, with an eager Navarro running wide at Turn 12.

On Lap 12, Marquez went for a pass on Marini at Turn 1 once more. The two were deep but with Turn 2 being a right-hander, the Italian held position but the Championship leader then put a daring move up the inside at Turn 4 – and executed it to perfection. The Spaniard was now in the driving seat to close the leading KTM down, with Navarro then following Marquez through a lap later at Turn 12. Then, Binder’s lead started to deteriorate. Two seconds became 1.5 seconds and with five laps remaining, the gap was down to just over a second. Marquez had Navarro nipping at his heels like a Jack Russell as the pair were showing better pace than Binder, but the South African was keeping his cool out front.

With three to go, Navarro pounced at Turn 1. A super-tidy move into the hard braking zone now saw Navarro with the bit between his teeth as he set his sights on a first Moto2™ victory. At this point, with Fernandez scoring zero points, Marquez was seemingly happy to take third – and rightly so. However, Navarro wasn’t happy with P2. There was no way the Spaniard was going to let Binder have the win without a fight and the Speed Up was closing. With two to go the gap dipped below a second and with Binder running wide at Turn 16 on the penultimate lap, Binder had just a 0.4 cushion over Navarro heading onto the last lap. However, Binder wasn’t fazed and when Navarro was slightly deep at Turn 8, it looked like it was done and dusted. And it was when Navarro got the rear lit up on the exit of Turn 15 – down the straight they came and it was Binder who rounded the final corner to take a sensational victory. Navarro climbed above Fernandez into second in the Championship, but Marquez was the biggest winner. 38 points is now the Spaniard’s advantage over Navarro heading to Thailand.

Marini held onto P4 despite late pressure from Lowes who takes his second consecutive P5. Lüthi couldn’t keep tabs on the top five in the latter stages as the Swiss rider takes P6 away from Aragon, he now sits just two points behind Fernandez and six off Navarro in the overall standings. American Racing KTM’s Iker Lecuona takes a P7 at his home Grand Prix, this the Spaniard’s best finish since his P4 at Round 2 in Argentina. Lorenzo Baldassarri (FlexBox HP 40) finished just under a second from Lecuona in P8, with Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Xavi Vierge (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) completing the top 10 at their home race.

After a superb Aragon GP, it’s advantage Marquez heading into the final five races of the season. Navarro now takes over as his main rival from Fernandez, as Thailand awaits. Will we witness more drama in Buriram? Binder will be hoping to notch up victory number three.

GRAN PREMIO MICHELIN® DE ARAGON

Moto2 Race Classification 2019.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	41	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	160.9	39’45.177
2	20	9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	HDR Heidrun Speed Up	Speed Up	160.8	+0.787
3	16	73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	160.7	+2.876
4	13	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	160.5	+5.387
5	11	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Federal Oil Gresini Moto2	Kalex	160.5	+5.601
6	10	12	Thomas LUTHI	SWI	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	160.2	+9.695
7	9	27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	American Racing KTM	KTM	160.1	+11.650
8	8	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	ITA	FLEXBOX HP 40	Kalex	160.0	+12.546
9	7	88	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	159.9	+14.775
10	6	97	Xavi VIERGE	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Kalex	159.8	+15.393
11	5	21	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	HDR Heidrun Speed Up	Speed Up	159.8	+15.495
12	4	11	Nicolo BULEGA	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	Kalex	159.8	+15.625
13	3	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	159.8	+15.859
14	2	62	Stefano MANZI	ITA	MV Agusta Temporary Forward	MV Agusta	159.4	+21.838
15	1	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	159.4	+21.859
16		35	Somkiat CHANTRA	THA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	159.4	+22.659
17		5	Andrea LOCATELLI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	159.1	+25.897
18		64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	159.0	+28.609
19		77	Dominique AEGERTER	SWI	MV Agusta Temporary Forward	MV Agusta	158.9	+28.943
20		2	Jesko RAFFIN	SWI	Dynavolt Intact GP	Kalex	159.0	+28.679
21		24	Simone CORSI	ITA	NTS RW Racing GP	NTS	158.4	+37.526
22		40	Augusto FERNANDEZ	SPA	FLEXBOX HP 40	Kalex	158.1	+41.050
23		96	Jake DIXON	GBR	Gaviota Angel Nieto Team	KTM	158.0	+42.644
24		33	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Italtrans Racing Team	Kalex	157.8	+45.942
25		3	Lukas TULOVIC	GER	Kiefer Racing	KTM	157.5	+50.680
26		65	Philipp OETTL	GER	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	157.4	+52.367
27		18	Xavi CARDELUS	AND	Gaviota Angel Nieto Team	KTM	156.3	+1’09.114
28		6	Gabriele RUIU	ITA	Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2	Kalex	155.9	+1’16.241
29		31	Gerry SALIM	INA	IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia	Kalex	155.9	+1’16.381
30		16	Joe ROBERTS	USA	American Racing KTM	KTM	155.7	+1’18.820
Not Classified
		45	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	JPN	ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team	Kalex	159.2	15 Laps

Moto2 World Standing 2019.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	SPA	213
2	Jorge NAVARRO	Speed Up	SPA	175
3	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	SPA	171
4	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	SWI	169
5	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	160
6	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	ITA	138
7	Luca MARINI	Kalex	ITA	126
8	Marcel SCHROTTER	Kalex	GER	116
9	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Speed Up	ITA	94
10	Enea BASTIANINI	Kalex	ITA	81
11	Tetsuta NAGASHIMA	Kalex	JPN	63
12	Remy GARDNER	Kalex	AUS	60
13	Sam LOWES	Kalex	GBR	60
14	Xavi VIERGE	Kalex	SPA	59
15	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	55
16	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	ITA	42
17	Jorge MARTIN	KTM	SPA	37
18	Nicolo BULEGA	Kalex	ITA	32
19	Mattia PASINI	Kalex	ITA	27
20	Stefano MANZI	MV Agusta	ITA	13
21	Somkiat CHANTRA	Kalex	THA	13
22	Dominique AEGERTER	MV Agusta	SWI	12
23	Marco BEZZECCHI	KTM	ITA	11
24	Simone CORSI	NTS	ITA	10
25	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NTS	NED	6
26	Jake DIXON	KTM	GBR	4
27	Joe ROBERTS	KTM	USA	4
28	Lukas TULOVIC	KTM	GER	3
29	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	MAL	3
30	Jesko RAFFIN	Kalex	SWI	3
31	Steven ODENDAAL	NTS	RSA
32	Jonas FOLGER	Kalex	GER
33	Philipp OETTL	KTM	GER
34	Xavi CARDELUS	KTM	AND
35	Dimas EKKY PRATAMA	Kalex	INA
36	Gabriele RUIU	Kalex	ITA
37	Andi Farid IZDIHAR	Kalex	INA
38	Teppei NAGOE	Kalex	JPN
39	Gerry SALIM	Kalex	INA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com

Moto2™. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brad Binder wins in Aragon.

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GRAN PREMIO MICHELIN® DE ARAGON

Moto2 World Standing 2019.

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