Red Bull KTM rider Brad Binder narrowly lost out on a victory in the main race of the Spanish MotoGP on Sunday as he was pipped to the post by world champion Francesco Bagnaia.
It looked like Binder was on course to record a rare MotoGP double by adding the main race to his sprint race win on Saturday, but Bagnaia had other ideas. The Spaniard overtook the South African with three laps to go and weathered an almighty fightback from Binder on the last lap to win by a mere 0.2 seconds.
Binder’s team-mate Jack Miller, who finished third in the sprint race, repeated his feat from Saturday to ensure KTM again had two riders on the podium for the second day running.
Brad Binder third
It is the sixth podium of Binder’s MotoGP career to go with his two sprint race wins. The 20 points he earned on Sunday, along with the 12 he pocketed on Saturday, sees him leave Spain with a 32-point haul.
After starting the weekend ninth in the MotoGP world championship standings, Binder now finds himself in third place on 62 points behind Bagnaia (87) and Marco Bezzecchi (65).
“I think I cooked my rear tyre a bit with three or four laps to go, but it is what it is. Hats off to Pecco [Bagnaia} who pushed me the whole way today and got me at the end,” Binder told broadcasters after the race.
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Another red flag
Similar to the sprint race on Saturday, the main race was also red-flagged on the first lap on Sunday after Fabio Quartararo and Miguel Olivieira crashed out at turn two. Quartararo was declared fit for the restart, but Olivieira suffered a dislocated shoulder.
After moving up two places to go up to second the first time, Binder went one better to repeat his feat from the sprint race restart and take the lead into the first corner after the restart of the main race.
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Miller overtook Binder on the third lap, but the South Africa regained the lead and kept it until Bagnaia overtook him.
MotoGP now moves to France for the next race weekend in two weeks’ time.
