Brno (Czech Republic) (AFP)
Return on the podium of the Frenchman Johann Zarco, 3rd, first success for the South African Brad Binder and his KTM team in MotoGP: the outcome of the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic on Sunday will have surprised more than one!
In difficulty with his tires and "at the limit of the 1st to the 21st lap", the other Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha-SRT), winner of the first two rounds of the season and leader of the world championship, is only 7th in his "most difficult GP" in the category. He nonetheless increased his lead in the riders' standings, 17 points behind his Spanish runner-up Maverick Vinales (Yamaha), only 14th.
For Zarco, this seventh podium in MotoGP, which follows his sixth pole position on Saturday, comes after a complicated 2019, marked by his separation from ... KTM in the middle of the season, for lack of results.
The 30-year-old rider regained a starting place in 2020 with the modest Ducati-Avintia team, which had never before known the honors of the pole and the podium, with the objective of conquering a better bike next year. at the Italian brand.
“Brad (Binder) is doing the job that I failed to do at KTM, but I have no regrets, proclaims the Frenchman, who has just turned 30. I am happy for him, for them and for me. Ducati explains a lot to me, I regain my confidence. We are both in our place. "
- Binder "incredulous" -
Arrived in MotoGP in 2017, KTM had never won and had only one podium until then: a 3rd place for the Spaniard Pol Espargaro at the end of 2018.
A novice in the category, Binder, Moto3 champion in 2016 and Moto2 runner-up in 2019, each time with the Austrian brand, took the lead with nine laps from the finish to offer him this success after only three races in 2020! What to leave him "incredulous" ... It is also the first victory for a South African among the elite.
His 2020 mount has "nothing to do" with the bike used by KTM last year, it is "much easier to maneuver", assures the 24-year-old rider. "We knew it was good, but not at this point. Nobody expected what happened today," he admits all the same.
Completing this unusual table, the Italian Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha-SRT) is 2nd for his first podium in the premier class, after two full seasons already.
Surprised to everyone's surprise by the "rookie" Quartararo last year, the 25-year-old has been forced to question himself. "I started to work more, to be more serious, more professional at home", explains the party animal, a trait he attributes to his Brazilian origins. "I was hoping to have improved and after three races I can say yes."
- Austria to follow -
The reigning champion, the Spaniard Marc Marquez (Honda), was forfeited after being operated on Monday for a fractured right humerus, like the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati-Pramac), who fell Friday in free practice and operated a fracture of the right tibia.
The pilots immediately follow two rounds on the land of ... KTM in Austria, on the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, on August 16 and 23, again without Marquez and Bagnaia.
In Moto2, the Italian Enea Bastianini (Kalex) won his second victory in a row and takes the lead of the championship with 15 points ahead of his Italian runner-up Luca Marini (Kalex). The Briton Sam Lowes (Kalex), who had not known the places of honor since 2016, and the American Joe Roberts (Kalex), for his first podium in the World, accompanied him on the box.
Italian Dennis Foggia (Honda) clinched his first Moto3 victory after two third places in 2018 and 2019. He shares the podium with Spaniard Albert Arenas (KTM), who increases his lead at the top of the league to 18 points. rider classification, and the Japanese Ai Ogura (Honda).
© 2020 AFP