Race report

Red Bull Ring Moto2: Binder ends KTM winless run in chaotic race

Ajo KTM rider Brad Binder withstood massive pressure to win at the Red Bull Ring on his birthday as several frontrunners crashed.

Binder took the lead off the line and, along with Xavi Vierge and pole-sitter Tetsuta Nagashima, broke away from the rest of the field.

But the group's breakaway only lasted three laps when Vierge smashed into Nagashima at Turn 4, resulting in a massive crash.

Binder was given a breathing room thanks to the crash, but was slowly reeled in by a group led by Enea Bastianini.

After some tussling, Remy Gardner got up to second with a triple overtake at Turn 4, and the Australian was soon all over Binder.

Gardner made several overtaking attempts but all of them occurred at Turn 1, and he was unable to make any of the moves stick.

When he ran wide at Turn 1, Bastianini and Alex Marquez joined the fight, but Gardner remained the man to challenge Binder.

Of the top two, it was Gardner cracking under pressure as he went off at Turn 1 again, and hit Marquez's Kalex after rejoining.

Gardner fell in the middle of the circuit as a result, a couple of bikes coming dangerously close to him in the immediate aftermath.

Bastianini was up to second afterwards but he only stayed there for one lap before more drama happened.

In a late-race charge, Luca Marini had snatched third from Marquez, only to then lose his bike at Turn 9 and wipe out Bastianini, who was taken away on a stretcher.

Marquez was next up to chase after Binder but the championship leader did not take any risks and couldn't get close enough to make a move stick.

Binder crossed the line first by three tenths over Marquez, claiming the first win of his and KTM's difficult Moto2 campaign.

With second place, Marquez still extended his championship lead over Tom Luthi, who was only sixth, to 43 points.

Jorge Navarro completed the rostrum, the Speed Up rider taking his fifth podium but still chasing a win this year.

Pons duo Lorenzo Baldassarri and Augusto Fernandez completed the top five from Luthi, who was in podium contention early on but was overtaken by several riders.

Iker Lecuona (American Racing), Marcel Schrotter (Intact) and Mattia Pasini (Tasca) made up the top 10.

Race results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Laps	Gap
1	41	Brad Binder	KTM	25
2	73	Alex Marquez	Kalex	25	0.330
3	9	Jorge Navarro	Speed Up	25	1.839
4	7	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	25	2.183
5	40	Augusto Fernandez	Kalex	25	3.303
6	12	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	25	4.645
7	88	Jorge Martin	KTM	25	5.200
8	27	Iker Lecuona	KTM	25	5.285
9	23	Marcel Schrotter	Kalex	25	6.973
10	54	Mattia Pasini	Kalex	25	9.428
11	5	Andrea Locatelli	Kalex	25	11.203
12	35	Somkiat Chantra	Kalex	25	12.252
13	11	Nicolo Bulega	Kalex	25	13.099
14	21	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Speed Up	25	13.886
15	64	Bo Bendsneyder	NTS	25	18.684
16	62	Stefano Manzi	MV	25	20.714
17	77	Dominique Aegerter	MV	25	25.000
18	94	Jonas Folger	Kalex	25	25.226
19	96	Jake Dixon	KTM	25	28.471
20	4	Steven Odendaal	NTS	25	29.993
21	16	Joe Roberts	KTM	25	33.876
22	65	Philipp Ottl	KTM	25	34.746
23	72	Marco Bezzecchi	KTM	25	38.031
24	22	Sam Lowes	Kalex	25	44.263
25	19	Teppei Nagoe	Kalex	25	1'00.320
26	18	Xavi Cardelus	KTM	25	1'00.432
27	3	Lukas Tulovic	KTM	25	1'00.934
	33	Enea Bastianini	Kalex	20	5 Laps
	10	Luca Marini	Kalex	20	5 Laps
	87	Remy Gardner	Kalex	19	6 Laps
	45	Tetsuta Nagashima	Kalex	7	18 Laps
	97	Xavi Vierge	Kalex	3	22 Laps
View full results