12/05/2024

Agius & Binder score points in the French Grand Prix

Race Sunday saw much cooler temperatures at the Bugatti Circuit of Le Mans, where Australian Senna Agius finished 13th in the fifth round of the 2024 season, closely followed by his LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Moto2 team-mate Darryn Binder in 14th position.

After his best qualifying performance to date, Senna Agius started the 22-lap race on the traditional French racetrack just outside Le Mans in eighth place. The Australian got away well from the start and found himself in fifth position in the heated starting scrum. The Moto2 rookie was able to keep up with the high race pace at the front for a while, but then slipped out of the top 10 after a mistake, but continued to fight tirelessly for every point position, sometimes even in a direct duel against his team-mate Darryn Binder. The 18-year-old, who also had to deal with a contact with Jake Dixon, finally finished the race in thirteenth place with three championship points in his pocket, which put him back into the top 19 of the world championship standings.

Darryn Binder got off to a rocket start on this sunny, albeit fresher, Sunday. In front of a full house, the South African, who started the race from 19th on the grid, catapulted up a full six positions and found himself in 13th place after the first few corners of the first lap. In the meantime, Binder managed to move up to P12, but had to give up the position again in the numerous battles. In fourteenth place, the 26-year-old scored two long-awaited championship points, which should end his drought once and for all. With the progress and knowledge gained this weekend, Andorra-based Binder now travels to Spain to the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona - a track he knows like the back of his hand - to take further steps towards the top 10 in just two weeks from the 24th -26th of May.

Results

Race
1. Sergio GARCIA/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO
2. Ai OGURA/ JPN/ MT Helmets - BOSCOSCURO – (+3.174)
3. Alonso LOPEZ/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – (+3.704)
13. Senna AGIUS/ AUS/ KALEX – (+18.191)
14. Darryn BINDER/ RSA/ KALEX – (+18.349)

World Championship
1. GARCIA Sergio/ SPA – 89
2. ROBERTS Joe/ USA – 82
3. ALDEGUER Fermin/ SPA – 63
19. AGIUS Senna/ AUS – 5
20. BINDER Darryn/ RSA – 3

Senna Agius

P13 - (+18.191)
Moto2 World Championship 2024 - P19 - 5 Points

"After a good start, things went well until about halfway through the race, but then I made a mistake and had to push hard to attack again in the last ten laps and get as far forward as possible. We took home three points. I was quite fast this weekend, but I was also missing something at a crucial point. We need to analyze why. We lack a certain rhythm, so we will attack again in Barcelona ."

Darryn Binder

P14 - (+18.349)
Moto2 World Championship 2024 - P20 - 3 Points

"It's getting better. It was probably the best race of the season for me. 19th on the grid was not ideal, but I got well away from the line, made some good overtaking manoeuvres, and had a halfway decent pace. We're on the right track, but I just didn't feel like I could fight for the top ten. It was quite a battle. It was the first time I used this type of tyre, but we can take something positive from this weekend after the progress we made with the bike in Jerez. I felt comfortable. We now need to fine-tune and find some speed. I have some of my best memories from races in Barcelona, so I'm really keen to get there."

Jürgen Lingg

Team Manager

"Senna's eighth place on the grid was obviously very pleasing. He generally did a strong qualifying yesterday. But in the race, he was a bit too nervous on the first few laps, which was not entirely unexpected for us. He was also involved in an incident, which was unfortunate and cost him a lot of time. After that, he struggled a bit to find his rhythm again. However, he later stabilized again and put in a good performance to the end, which was rewarded with points. The weekend showed that there is obviously still room for improvement, but overall, we have to be satisfied. We have to keep at it, keep working with Senna, but also be patient. There is definitely still a lot of potential.
It was super sad for Darryn that he so narrowly missed out on Q2. But he did a good race today. He got off to a good start and immediately moved forward. At some point, however, he was unable to make up any more ground. In the end, he also finished in the points, which we are very happy about. It was pleasing that he set consistent lap times either. That is very positive, because that has been lacking recently. But we still have a lot of work to do with him too, so that we can work more effectively with Darryn in the future."

Moto2 Pictures Le Mans Grand Prix 2024

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