Darryn Binder’s ninth place on row three gives hope of a points-winning Australian Grand Prix for the LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Team’s Moto2 squad.

Whereas a week ago the tropical heat of Indonesia made things difficult for the riders, freshening Pacific winds and mild temperatures around 20°C on Phillip Island, the Mecca of Australian motorsport, are creating completely new challenges.

Darryn improved noticeably in the course of the practice session from Friday to Saturday and clearly feels comfortable on his Kalex machine. He finally managed to go straight into Qualifying 2, where he fought his way onto the third row of the grid. From ninth position, the 25-year-old will go into the Aussie battle with a good feeling. The South African hopes to keep pace with the leading group and score a lot of points.

Whether the Moto2 race can take place an hour earlier at 11:15 a.m. local time (02:15 a.m. CEST), as newly planned, will depend on the weather conditions, because the forecasts predict nothing good with squalls and heavy rain. For this reason, Moto2 will also be given a ten-minute warm-up session in the morning in order to be able to adjust to the possibly changed conditions.

Darryn Binder
P9 (Q2) – 1’32.946 (+1.058)

“I feel happy with P9 on the starting grid, although I wanted a bit more as I felt pretty good in Q2. But overall, I’m happy because starting at least from the first three rows is good enough to find myself in the leading group with a good start. I’ve been feeling very strong all weekend, building up and building up again every time, and I feel like I’m having a strong pace. So, I’m pretty confident going into race day, even if we’ll have to wait and see what the weather brings. Hopefully, it’s not too bad and we were able to put together an exciting race. I’m comfortable with this bike in the rain, but when it’s really strong wind, it gets even harder. And much more risky.”