Binder surges through to Moto3 seventh at Silverstone
PETRONAS Sprinta Racing’s Darryn Binder and John McPhee recover to seventh and 12th at BritishGP
A strong ride from Darryn Binder saw him end the first British Grand Prix since 2019 seventh, while PETRONAS Sprinta Racing team-mate John McPhee was forced to mount a recovery ride from 27th to 12th at his home GP following a lap 1 incident.
A great start from 16th on the grid saw Binder power through the field to tenth before the end of the first lap. The South African made it into the top-five one lap later and set about closing the gap to the riders out front. Joining the podium fight with ten laps to go, Darryn battled hard with those around until the chequered flag waved. Ultimately crossing the line seventh and increasing his world championship points to 95, Binder leaves the BritishGP sixth in the riders’ standings.
McPhee had his work cut out, after being forced wide in Turn 3 of the opening lap and ended up at the back of the pack. Able to move inside the points-scoring positions on lap 4, the Scot fought hard to reduce the deficit to those ahead on track and entered a fierce battle for tenth in the final stages. Swapping positions with those around him several times, John ended his home GP 11th – but was demoted one position for exceeding track limits. McPhee now sits 16th in the World Championship standings with 53 points.
There will now be a short break before Binder and McPhee are in action at the Gran Premio de Aragón next month (10-12 September).
“Today both of our riders started quite far back, which is not easy when the lead rider has a quick pace. It would have been really important to be on the front two or three rows and I think both Darryn and John could have gone with the lead group today. Darryn did an amazing job on the first two laps, to go from 16th to fifth in the space of one and a half laps. He had a good race and was fighting for the top-three, but once the tyres started to drop he lost connection with them and couldn’t get back. The only disappointing thing is that he could have finished fifth, but he was fighting for it.
It was not going to be easy for John, running wide on the first lap, but it was good that he was first in that group. He was able to cross the line 11th, but unfortunately it’s actually 12th because he exceeded track limits. It was a decent race from him though, considering he was last on the first lap.” – Johan Stigefelt, Team Director
“I had a good start to the race and I was able to get towards the front quite quickly. Unfortunately the groups of riders were really small, which meant that one small mistake and you lose the slipstream. This happened to me and I was out of the group. I am really happy with how the opening laps went and I felt really fast, but I was just missing some speed. This is something that we need to improve. Right now my goal is to be in the top-five every race, that will make me happy, so hopefully we can do this in the next few races.” – Darryn Binder, 7th (+7.559)
“I fought really hard in the race today and pushed to my maximum from the very beginning. Unfortunately in Turn 3 on the opening lap I had contact with another rider and had to go straight on. I was in last position and it made the job even harder. I have suffered a bit since my FP1 crash and been trying to catch up, so it hasn’t been the easiest of weekends. I felt strong in the race and felt able to attack, so I feel like we did the best job possible.
It would have been nice to be at the back of the front group, as I felt like my pace was there to fight with them. Coming from last to finish at the head of the second group was good though. Thanks to the team for working hard, like always, and now we focus on Aragon.” – John McPhee, 12th (+21.859)