Spanish MotoGP sprint race results | Wild Binder delights in quick, furious victory in Jerez

Brad Binder claimed his second sprint race win of the season, defined by a superb, physics-defying pass on KTM factory teammate Jack Miller in the Spanish MotoGP at Jerez.

Despite losing an early lead on Miller, Binder refocused and launched a fierce attack on his fellow KTM RC16 rider to reclaim the lead with three laps to go through a daring – and lateral – outside line pass at the Dani Pedrosa corner.

Although the ailing Miller was also demoted to third by Pecco Bagnaia on the final lap, first and third places mean KTM’s first-ever double premier class podium.

After a relatively quiet sprint race at COTA, there should be fireworks around the historic Spanish circuit from the start after a midfield pile-up at Turn 2 required a red flag.

Triggered when Franco Morbidelli and Alex Marquez crashed into the fairing to bring both bikes down, a blind Marco Bezzecchi had nowhere to go but into the battered bikes. Although all three escaped unhurt, a subsequent fire on Bezzecchi’s VR46 Ducati meant the race had to be abandoned.

At the time of the stoppage, Miller and Binder were tied 1-2, the duo repeating the feat – albeit in reverse position – at the restart.

Binder, who had already won the sprint race from 15th on the grid, made up his career-best fourth at the traffic lights to hold the lead early, Miller pushed through laps one and two despite a few position changes with an eager Jorge Martin behind.

After dispatching Martin, Miller immediately turned his attention to challenging Binder for the lead, with the Australian coming in well with a clean pass to his team-mate into the final corner.

Behind them, defending champion Pecco Bagnaia was now third after capitalizing on Martin’s failed attempt to overtake Miller on lap two, while polesitter Aleix Espargaro held onto fifth place after being pushed down the order in the opening corners had been.

However, the Spaniard’s poor start to the season would continue with six laps to go when he dropped the lead of the Aprilia at Turn 9, Espargaro joining Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami early on the list of retirements after they too crashed .

At the front, Miller was unable to break away from the field and again came under increasing pressure from Binder.

Throwing all sorts of shapes at the RC16 in his attempts to find a path to Miller, the added attention of his South African colleague allowed the KTM pair to build a small lead over the Bagnaia in third place.

That meant Binder was confident enough to attempt an all-around pass at the Dani Pedrosa corner with four laps to go, although he couldn’t get the bike to stop enough to put the front wheel back in front of Miller.

Undeterred, Binder tried again with three to go, but while again making it wide and sideways through the corner, it put him on the inside line for the next corner, Binder regaining the lead.

He would also make it to the checkered flag, Binder was able to put some air between him and a big battle for second place between Miller and Bagnaia that eventually went his way as his former teammate struggled in the Dani- Pedrosa corner overbraked .

Although not officially counted in the overall stats, first and third places for KTM mark the first double podium for the manufacturer since its debut in 2017.

Martin followed home in a watchful letter for fourth place, while Miguel Oliveira, in Espargaro’s absence, confirmed Aprilia’s honor and finished fifth in the RNF RS-GP.

Competing in his first-ever MotoGP sprint race, Dani Pedrosa ended an important day for the KTM team in a strong sixth, well ahead of Maverick Vinales, who got off to a poor start again but was able to fight his way back into the points in seventh.

Johann Zarco finished eighth, Bezzecchi improved to ninth place and secured the final point, keeping a three-point lead over Bagnaia in the standings.

Outside of the points, Luca Marini was tenth, ahead of Fabio di Giannantonio and a dejected Fabio Quartararo, who paid for his 16th place on the grid to only move up to 12th. However, the Frenchman was unlucky after coming off strong on the first start and moving to eighth only to be slowed down by the red flag.

COTA race winner Alex Rins also made progress from 18th but could only advance to 13th while Joan Mir, fourth and last rider after DNF, suffered his fourth crash of the weekend.

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2023 Spanish MotoGP sprint race results | jerez