30/06/2024

Assen brings Agius & Binder valuable world championship points

LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Moto2 team rookie Senna Agius fought for the top ten at the Dutch TT and took five world championship points with a strong eleventh place. Team-mate Darryn Binder also steered his Kalex into the points with 15th place.

The race Sunday at one of the most traditional race tracks on the calendar got off to a promising start with the first race of the day and the Moto2 race also had plenty of action in store. After Senna Agius' strong qualifying performance, the Australian-born rider started the race in eleventh place and finished a strong tenth. In the end, he was relegated to eleventh place on the timesheets because he exceeded the track limit in the scramble of the final corners. Nonetheless, this was a reason to be happy, as the gap between the top seven group, in which the 19-year-old fought, and the top five was only two and a half seconds, and only around 12 seconds to the very front, similar to Barcelona, where he finished fifth. His thrilling duel against Celestino Vietti was rewarded with five championship points. The next points will come in a week's time at the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, the home race of the Memmingen-based racing team. The Sachsenring will be new terrain for the youngster, but so was Assen, so the signs are good for another successful race weekend.

Saturday's practice session put Darryn Binder in a positive mood ahead of the gruelling 22-lap race at the Dutch TT. After a solid start, the South African even moved up to twelfth place, but the rear tyre wore-off quickly due to his hard pushing, which further minimised his feeling for the Kalex. The 26-year-old lost a few positions as a result, but still managed to pick up a point. He wants to increase this in Germany and take the next steps towards success at the Sachsenring Grand Prix.

Results

Race
1. Ai OGURA/ JPN/ BOSCOSCURO
2. Fermin ALDEGUER/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – (+0.571)
3. Sergio GARCIA/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – (+4.252)
11. Senna AGIUS/ AUS/ KALEX – (+12.945)
15. Darryn BINDER/ RSA/ KALEX – (+23.003)

World Championship
1. GARCIA Sergio/ SPA – 138
2. OGURA Ai/ JPN – 124
3. ROBERTS Joe/ USA – 115
16. AGIUS Senna/ AUS – 21
24. BINDER Darryn/ RSA – 6

Senna Agius

P11 - (+12.945)
Moto2 World Championship 2024 - P16 - 21 Points

"It was a super-positive race for me. I had a good start and was able to keep up with the leaders at the beginning, but then struggled a bit with the guys in front of me. I was able to keep up with them until the grip started to drop down at the halfway stage of the race. On the last lap, it was like in Moto3! I just touched the green zone in the chicane and lost a position. It's a bit bittersweet not to be in the top ten today, but it was another positive result for us. A big thank you to the team and everyone in my corner. We are learning a lot, and things can only go up from here."

Darryn Binder

P15 - (+23.003)
Moto2 World Championship 2024 - P24 - 6 Points

"After yesterday morning, I felt pretty confident in the cooler conditions. So, I had high hopes, but unfortunately, I lacked a bit of feeling at the start of the race. I fought as hard as I could for good positions, but I destroyed my rear tyre in the process. We'll continue to work hard for success at the Sachsenring."

Jürgen Lingg

Team Manager

"We had both riders in Q2 again this time. That's always good. So, we had a reasonably good grid position for Sunday with both of them, with Senna starting from the fourth row and Darryn one row further back. But things could have gone a bit better for him. Both Senna and Darryn started the race well. Apart from the fact that Senna was in the top 10 most of the time, he did a very strong race. Also, in terms of his pace. Unfortunately, he was a bit unlucky at the end when he was pushed off the track a bit when battling for positions. It's not entirely understandable that Senna got a penalty afterwards. Darryn also scored another point. The most pleasing thing, however, is the gap to the top, which was more or less the same as in the Barcelona race. Senna was only three seconds off fifth place at the finish. His performance cannot be overestimated, especially as it was his first time here in Assen. That was really top. But we have to stay calm and keep working hard, then we will achieve more good results with him in the future. With Darryn, on the other hand, we still need to improve, or rather, there has to come more from him. Congratulations also to Collin Veijer on his strong home race. Now we're looking forward to the Sachsenring."

Pictures Moto2 – Sunday Assen GP 2024

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