Brad Binder gave KTM its first major moment of success in the still young MotoGP season. The South African surprisingly won the twelve-lap sprint race at the Argentine Grand Prix on Saturday. With a fantastic first lap, Binder catapulted himself from 15th to third place, took the lead after three laps and never gave it up again.
Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) finished second ahead of his VR46 colleague Luca Marini, while front row World Champion Francesco Bagnaia (third in qualifying) was only sixth.
“Damn, I surprised myself with this start,” Binder grinned. “I said to myself: Okay, now that I’m here, I’ll fight like a lion. Since yesterday we have taken an incredibly big step. The bike was just perfect,” said the new World Championship fourth.
The newly introduced sprint races take place on each of the 21 World Championship tracks on Saturday after qualifying and cover half the distance of the main race. They make up a third of the world championship points awarded. Alex Marquez (Ducati) had previously secured pole position. Binder took twelve points with him, but has to work his way up again for more points on Sunday.
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