Of course, twelfth place, 0.684 seconds behind the best time of Aleix Espargaró, whom he still had under control last Sunday in Portugal, did not completely satisfy Brad Binder on the Red Bull KTM on the 4.806 km long Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo.
“But the first day was okay. It wasn’t so bad because the surface here is always very slippery when we get here,” assured the South African. “The grip difference is very clear compared to Portimão. We tried a lot of different things on the first day, but we always lost too much grip on corner entry. And when you accelerate and step on the gas, the rear wheel keeps spinning. We made small improvements during the day. But for Saturday we want to take a bigger step. Then we’ll see how far that takes us.”
The Red Bull KTM star suffered from neck pain, particularly for the first two days of last week, in the aftermath of the test crash in Portugal two weeks earlier. Binder hoped he would feel “a hundred times better” in Argentina.
“Yes, at least I can drive without painkillers,” said the World Cup sixth in 2021 and 2022. “That’s great. My neck feels a lot better. But on the back straight I still have a lot of pain in the turbulence. But at least I don’t have to worry about it as much when driving as I did last weekend.”
Binder made a huge improvement in last week’s 25-lap race on Sunday after a disappointing sprint race (he didn’t score points). He fought for 4th place and collected ten points for sixth place.
«Yes, my boys gave me a much better package for Sunday. Whatever they did, it was ten times better than Saturday. The new set-up made all the difference. The bike was more stable, I could use more engine power with Traction Control and ride almost the way I imagined. Now I’m curious to see if we can take a similar step here on Saturday.”
MotoGP combined times after FP2, Las Termas (31/3):
1. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, 1:38.518 min
2. Vinales, Aprilia, +0.162 sec
3. Bezzecchi, Ducati, +0.249
4. Marini, Ducati, + 0.315
5. Zarco, Ducati, +0.391
6. Bagnaia, Ducati, + 0.426
7. Martin, Ducati, +0.488
8. Nakagami, Honda, +0.553
9. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +0.562
10. Kidneys, Honda, + 0.599
11. Alex Márquez, Ducati, + 0,666
12. Brad Binder, KTM, + 0,684
13. Mir, Honda, +0.719
14. Quartararo, Yamaha, + 0,746
15. Di Giannantonio, Ducati, + 0.770
16. Miller, KTM, + 0,858
17. Augusto Fernández, KTM, + 1,043
18. Raul Fernandez, Aprilia, +1,057
MotoGP result FP1, Las Termas (31.3.):
1. Vinales, Aprilia, 1:39.209 min
2. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, + 0.284 sec
3. Martin, Ducati, +0.301
4. Nakagami, Honda, +0.376
5. Alex Márquez, Ducati, + 0,403
6. Zarco, Ducati, +0.421
7. Marini, Ducati, + 0.426
8. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +0.489
9. Bezzecchi, Ducati, +0.493
10. Bagnaia, Ducati, + 0.544
11. Kidneys, Honda, + 0.595
12. Di Giannantonio, Ducati, + 0.719
13. Augusto Fernández, KTM, + 0.787
14. Miller, KTM, + 0,830
15. Quartararo, Yamaha, + 0,909
16. Brad Binder, KTM, + 1,057
17. Raul Fernandez, Aprilia, +1,129
18. Mir, Honda, +1.458
Moto2, combined times after FP2, Las Termas (31/3):
1. Arbolino, Kalex, 1:43,172 min
2. Salac, Kalex, + 0,066 sec
3. Acosta, Kalex, + 0.080
4. Dixon, Kalex, +0.121
5. Chantra, Kalex, + 0.126
6. Canet, Kalex, + 0,154
7. Lowes, Kalex, + 0,233
8. Aldeguer, Boscoscuro, + 0.268
9. Bendsneyder, Kalex, +0.436
10. Lopez, Boscoscuro, + 0.472
11. Gonzalez, Kalex, + 0.483
12. Arenas, Kalex, + 0,571
13. Baltus, Kalex, + 0,802
14. Roberts, Kalex, + 0,853
15. Kelly, Kalex, + 0,855
16. Vietti, Kalex, + 0.949
Further:
26. Ogura, Kalex, +2,194