PETRONAS Sprinta Racing’s Moto3 riders demonstrated good speed around the Portimão circuit, with Darryn Binder ending the opening day of the Grande Prémio do Algarve 12th.

After being the early pacesetter in FP1, Darryn fell foul of exceeding track limits on a couple of laps in the first half of the session. Able to make big improvements late on, he ended FP1 eighth with a 1min 49.272secs lap.

The South African had a solid FP2 session, staying inside of the top-ten until the start of the true time-attack laps. Waiting until his final flying lap to improve upon his FP1 time, Darryn’s 1min 48.886secs lap saw him end both FP2 and the day in 12th.

Darryn Binder
12th (1’48.886)

It’s good to be back in Portimão, although we have slightly different conditions compared to last time we were here. I also really enjoy riding this track with all the elevation changes, but one small mistake can ruin the lap time so you need to make sure that you’re good everywhere. It’s been a bit of a strange day because I’ve felt good but I haven’t really achieved what I would have liked to. The feeling isn’t too bad and I know where we can improve for tomorrow, we’re going to keep working for the race. This weekend I’m working with the hard tyre to get my bike set up for that and we’ll focus on the time attacks tomorrow in Qualifying.