Austrian MotoGP ‘bittersweet’ for Darryn Binder, Andrea Dovizioso ‘always losing’ at the start | MotoGP

Starting the Austrian MotoGP from 21st on the grid, Binder was already up to 13th at the end of lap one before making that P12 shortly after.

The MotoGP rookie remained in the battle to score points as the race progressed, however, Binder suffered a front-end crash just after mid-race distance.

Despite making the enormous step from Moto3 to MotoGP in 2022 and therefore needing time, Binder could be facing a situation where he loses his place in the premier class after just one season, thus making every Grand Prix from now until the end of the year vital for the South African.

“So, the Austria weekend is done and dusted but it was a bittersweet ending to what could have been a good weekend,” said Binder.

“Unfortunately, I crashed out just before halfway in the race. I had an amazing start and I really felt like I had quite a good pace.

“I was running amongst the points and feeling good. Unfortunately, in the place that I least expected, I lost the front in corner 9 in lap 13.

“I’m really disappointed to end the weekend like this as it has been such a good weekend and I was getting stronger in each session, I felt really good in the race today and it’s a pity to end like this. Anyway, we take the positive and move on to Misano and try again.”

Dovizioso ‘always losing positions’ at the start, but scores points on penultimate MotoGP appearance

Set to bring a glittering MotoGP career to a close in Misano next weekend, Andrea Dovizioso’s penultimate race saw him come across the line to claim 15th.

Related Articles

Although Dovizioso struggled during the early laps before compounding his bad start with a mistake at turn one [lap five]the Italian made steady progress as the race went on, although crashes in front of him also played a key role in earning a point.

Speaking after his 247th MotoGP race, Dovizioso said: “As always, at the beginning of the race, I’m not able to gain positions and I’m always losing positions.

“On the start it was good but in the corners, when you are that far behind it’s a gamble and I lose a lot of positions. After 5 laps, I went out of the track in turn 1 and lost even more so my race changed , and I had to start to recover.

“My pace in the middle of the race was exactly the same as during practice. But, when you are that behind, it’s hard to gain anything. In the end, we took one point and this is a positive.”