Darryn Binder put a lot of work into improving his lap times from Friday at the Sachsenring. The experienced world championship rider took more than a second out of his Kalex compared to the first day and, as third fastest in Q1, claimed his ticket for the hard-fought Qualifying 2, in which the South African only rode three full laps as he only had one new tyre left. His best time was a 1’23.330 and was enough for 16th place on the grid in row six. However, if you take a look at the 0.552s gap to the top, you realise how incredibly close and competitive the Moto2 class is these days.

Darryn Binder
P16 – 1’23.330 (+0.552)

“Overall, it’s been a difficult weekend so far, because it’s very tight here. I made a good step in Q1 and was able to set a decent lap time, which got me into Q2. Unfortunately, I only had one shot in Q2 because we only had one tyre left. So, we waited until the end, and unfortunately in these hot conditions, you only have one, maximum one-second lap to use the extra grip of the new tyre. My first lap wasn’t the cleanest as I made a mistake and then the yellow flag was shown. I gave it my all and I think I could have finished a bit further up the grid. Anyway, it’s going to be a long and tough race tomorrow and we’ll have to pay attention to the rear tyre. Let’s see how we manage that. I’ve already started from worse positions, so here we go.”