On Friday the racing world was hit hard by the tragic death of Luis Salom, few hit harder than his former teammate Brad Binder and the Red Bull KTM Ajo team, who Salom challenged for the title with. The combination were more determined than ever to get a good result, Binder showing his intent by putting his KTM on pole for just the second time in his career. Sunday’s race proved to be as hard as ever in the Moto3™ World Championship, the regular front-runners joined by the likes of Khairul Idham Pawi (Honda Team Asia) and Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA Racing Team). Frantic action followed with no one able to get away, eight riders locked in a battle for victory.
As in many of the previous rounds, Binder looked comfortable in the middle of the group, just waiting for the final laps to attack. Unfortunately for Binder, Rodrigo came into contact with the South African’s rear wheel at the final chicane, which sent the pair off track. Four laps from the end and Binder was in eighth, with gritted teeth he charged forward and eventually got up to second. Binder still leads the championship from Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0,0) with a comfortable 44-point lead.
Binder remains as the only rider across all three classes to take a podium in all seven races.Brad Binder: “The important thing today was not the result, but paying tribute to Luis Salom. It has been a hard weekend for me and the whole team. We took another podium, which is very valuable after being down in eighth with four laps remaining. I was able to fight back and set my best times on the last two laps, allowing me to keep adding points to my tally and claim a seventh podium. If I had not made contact with another rider, then I think I could have been up there fighting for the win, but that's the way it went. It is not a time for celebrations today”