For almost forty years Grand Prix racing has lapped the 13 corners of the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto and MotoGP arrived to lay rubber around the course that has become the reference for teams, riders, and fans for a distinct Spanish flavor in the world championship. Round four of 2024 MotoGP began in warm, breezy conditions and with the first streaks of fans littering the stands that filled copiously on Saturday and will conjure the special Jerez atmosphere for race day on Sunday.
Red Bull KTM marked a strong pace on Friday and around a track where both Brad Binder, Jack Miller and test rider Dani Pedrosa enjoyed high levels of competitiveness twelve months previously. Brad headed a long spell of Practice on Friday afternoon and only a crash at Turn 7 while on another ‘flyer’ edged him out of Q2 directly by a tenth of a second. Saturday dawned wet and cool and created different conditions for qualification; the three riders only had the 30-minute FP2 session to fine-tune a wet setup. Brad squeezed out of Q1, and then grabbed 4th on the grid through Q2 by maximizing the medium wet rear tire.
The Sprint took place over 12 drama-drenched circulations on Saturday afternoon and on virtually dry asphalt plagued by a few damp patches. Brad pushed his limits inside the top four after a lightning launch and holeshot and tested the limits of traction in his battle for the podium. There were fifteen crashes as the race order changed frequently. Brad was a victim at Turn 5 with two other riders at the same moment, highlighting how the track was still deceptively slick in places.
Jerez is the second European date on the 2024 calendar and therefore the MotoGP 25-lapper gets underway at the routine hour of 14.00 local time.
Brad Binder
“I knew I had good pace, so it was important to cross into Q2 and give it a good go. Conditions were sketchy this morning: it was not really dry or wet! I was happy with 4th and I had a great start in the Sprint but there were more patches than I thought. I went a bit too wide and had to chill out a little bit to figure out where I was going! Unfortunately, when Alex [Marquez] crashed in front of me in Turn 5 I checked-up a bit and hit a wet spot and lost the front. Disappointing to crash because we were in for a good one. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
Published by: https://bradbinder33.com
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