SA's Brad Binder wins Jerez Moto3

SA's Brad Binder wins Jerez Moto3

Jerez de la Frontera, Spain - It was one for the history books as Valentino Rossi claimed his 113th career Grand Prix victory and his 87th in the premier class, while South African Brad Binder put in the ride of a lifetime to take his first Grand Prix win - after starting from the back of the grid!

Through out the weekend Rossi, his factory Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and Honda's defending world champion Marc Marquez were in a league of their own, filling the top three slots in almost every practice session and lining up next to each other on the front row of the grid.

Races can't be won in the first corner, but they can certainly be lost. The crowded erupted as The Doctor pulled a superb start to lead into Turn 1, with Jorge Lorenzo right behind and works Honda duo Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa within touching distance.

Pedrosa slotted into third midway through the first lap, as the Yamaha began to stretch their lead. Marquez tried to pass Pedrosa into Turn 6 but was forced to run wide as his line was blocked. Lorenzo tried a similar pass on Rossi through Turn 9 - with similar results - as Marquez, who had muscled his way past his team-mate, starting to claw back the deficit.

An impossible charge through the field saw Binder take his first Grand Prix win after starting last. After qualifying Binder's works KTM was found to be running non-homologated ECU software and his qualifying times were disallowed, which meant he had to start from the back of the grid

Francesco Bagnaia got a great start on his Mahindra to lead into Turn 1, while Niccolo Antonelli was forced to start from pit lane due to an issue on the grid, behind Binder, who had already begun to slice his way through the field.

Turn 6 claimed both Fabio Quartararo (KTM) and Jorge Martin (Mahindra) on the first lap, while Honda privateer Jorge Navarro had taken control of the race with Bagnaia and Nicolo Bulega (KTM) tucking in behind him in an attempt to break away from the pack.

By the start of lap three Binder was up from 15th from 35th, and two laps later he posted the fastest lap of the race, less than two tenths slower than his own lap record for this circuit, set in 2015, as he closed in on the group battling for fourth.

With 18 laps to go Bulega slid up the inside of Navarro to take the lead, but his size worked against him (at 1.8 metres and 63kg the 16-year-old is one of the biggest riders in the class) and Navarro was able to take the lead back at Turn 1 on the following lap.

The battle at the front was exciting, but Binder's charge was awe-inspiring as he moved into the top 10 after just six laps, seeming to gain a place on almost every corner. Before a third of the race was gone, Binder was fourth and leading the chasing group.

With 15 laps left to close the 3.7-second gap, he was reeling off a steady flow of mid-1m47s laps while the three riders battling for the lead were slowing each other down to the low 1m48s - so much so, that on lap 11 Binder made up more than a second, closing to less than 1.5 seconds adrift.

Meanwhile the fight for fifth was equally intense as Joan Mir (KTM), Enea Bastianini (Honda) and Philipp Oettl (KTM) traded places on almost every lap.

On lap 14 Binder moved into third, and soon after into second as Bagnaia ran wide at Turn 1. The leading group immediately tightened around him, but Binder wasn't fazed, pushing his way into the lead at Turn 6 on lap 18.

With a clear track ahead, Binder began to open up a lead as Navarro and Bagnaia diced for second, but with three laps to go Bulega struck back at Turn 6, slamming his way into second, but Bagnaia and Navarro responded as all three traded places.

The gap grew to an astonishing 3.4 seconds as Binder became the first ever South African to win a lightweight class race, extending his championship lead to 15 points over Navarro.

The fight for second, however, came down to the drag to the line after an incredible move by Bulega into Turn 13 on the last lap that scored him second by half a tenth and a maiden podium with Bagnaia notching up his second podium of the year in third.

Navarro was forced to settle for fourth, while Jakub Kornfeil (Honda) got the best of the battlec for fifth, ahead of Mir, Romano Fenati (KTM), Bastianini, Jules Danilo (Honda) and Oettl.

Motorsport / 24 Apr '16

IOL Motoring Staff