#Difficult #AmericasGP sees DNF for Jack Miller and 13th for Brad Binder
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing had good reason to view the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas with strong cause for optimism considering the increased competitiveness and continued progression with the current RC16 motorcycle. Jack Miller was holding a podium position at COTA until a mid-race slip while Brad Binder was also among the fastest on track in Texas until he also had to recover from an error and still made the flag in 13th place.
The stifling heat of COTA on Saturday had blown away in a stiff breeze to be replaced by sunshine and colder temperatures for the Grand Prix distances on Sunday. Jack Miller and Brad Binder throttled their KTM RC16s from the fourth row of the grid and for the 20-lap distance and it was Miller who made the sharper start around the long 20-corner layout.
Jack was holding a clear 3rd position when he lost control through the chicane and slid out of the reckoning at mid-race distance. Binder was making progress from the depths of the top ten as the group disputing positions for the top five began to close up and narrow. Brad spun out through Turn 15 only a few laps after Miller had departed the race. He was able to pick up the bike and rally to 13th for 3 valuable points.
After three of 21 rounds, Binder is 9th in the championship standings while Miller is close in 12th. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing will be able to go for trophies again at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto for the Gran Premio MotoGP Guru by Gryfyn de España in two weeks.
Brad Binder, 13th:
“The whole weekend here in Austin has been a lot more positive than we might have expected beforehand, based-off our experiences here in the last years. I wasn’t super-happy yesterday but I managed 5th which was fantastic. Today I had high hopes but unfortunately I switched my line going into Turn 1 at the start and it was a big mistake on my part. I ended up getting caught in the chaos on the first lap. I tried my best. I struggled with the front tire up until a few laps before I crashed. At that moment I was confident and was started to push. Then it just snapped away from me on one of the little left-handers. Luckily, I was able to remount and we still got three points. As frustrating as today was we are not walking away empty-handed. For me it was also a lesson, especially from my mistake at the start. At Jerez we will go a hell-of-a-lot better.”
Jack Miller, DNF:
“Unfortunate one. I felt really good from the get-go. I made a decent start, felt comfortable and was settled into the race. I swapped a map and then she let go of me. I was really trying to manage the tires and I felt we had a great chance of being there until the end. The positive part was the speed and how we were up there with the guys. We’ll take that from the weekend. We’ll learn from the negatives and go towards Jerez with a clean mind.”
