South African rider Brad Binder was denied his first MotoGP win of the season after he was overtaken by Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia in closing laps of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.
The KTM rider won Saturday’s sprint race which was his second of the season after victory in Argentina.
Bagnaia started Sunday’s race in fourth place based on qualifying results while Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro started on pole ahead of Binder’s teammate Jack Miller.
Miller took the lead on the first lap from Espargaro and it was not long before Binder followed after overtaking Jorge Martin for third.
The race was, however, red flagged before the end of the opening lap as a collision between Fabio Quartararo, Miguel Oliveira and Marco Bezzecchi resulted in the former two crashing out, retiring from the race and needing urgent medical attention.
Winner of the last race in Austin, Alex Rins also retired from the race as he crashed from a fall of his bike.
After the restart of the race, Binder gained command from Miller in lap four before Bagnaia forced his way past the Australian to push him down the order. The Italian was given a one-place drop notification which gave Miller back second position.
Bagnaia was eventually able to overtake Miller on lap 15 and began to close in Binder. With three laps to go Bagnaia made his move on the South African which was successful.
Bagnaia came back under pressure from Binder on the final lap but the reigning MotoGP champion held firm for his second win of the season.
SO CLOSE to a #TissotSprint and race win ????
What a weekend for @BradBinder_33 who gets second place today ????#SpanishGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/BgEpOB2udt
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) April 30, 2023
Binder sits third in the championship standings on 62 points, 13 clear of Miller who occupies fourth spot. At the top is Bagnaia with 87 points ahead of VR46 Racing’s Marco Bezzecchi.
