10/03/2024

Difficult season opener for Binder & Agius in Qatar tyre poker

Darryn Binder and Senna Agius from the LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Moto2 Team started the opening race at the Lusail International Circuit full of hope. But it was to be an indomitable tyre poker and a challenging battle to the line, which the Australian rookie crossed in seventeenth place ahead of his South African teammate.

The conditions in Qatar change significantly from day to night, making tyre selections difficult. With no practice time from the rainy Friday evening and only a short qualifying session on Saturday evening in similar conditions to the race, the riders and teams were left to gamble on which combination of tyres would work best over the race distance.
The German team, as well as many other well-known contenders and teams, opted for the hard front and rear tyres from Pirelli. As the race progressed, however, it became clear that this was not the ideal choice for the race under floodlights.

Darryn Binder, who had made a good start to the first race weekend of the year, got off to a solid start and made up two positions on his rivals. The South African quickly noticed that his tyres were losing performance earlier than desired, so he tried with everything at his disposal to defend a possible top 10 result. After the 26-year-old had managed to hold his own in the scramble at the start, he ultimately had to watch as he gradually lost ground and position after position. In the last of 18 laps, he also had to concede defeat to his new teammate. Thanks to his experience, Binder knows how to categorize this nevertheless very instructive weekend and looks confidently to the next opportunity in just two weeks' time.

Moto2 rookie Senna Agius was unable to get beyond the top 18 in the starting phase, as he also struggled quickly with degrading tyres. However, the 18-year-old did not give up and fought through to the end. He managed his race in the best possible way and was even able to overtake Darryn Binder in the final metres of the 5.38km track. As a result, he finished his first race of the season in seventeenth place, just two positions behind the points.

Now it's time to quickly put the Qatar disappointment behind and focus on the next round of the season at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Portimao, which is scheduled for the 22nd - 24th of March.

RESULTS

Race
1. Alonso LOPEZ/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO
2. Barry BALTUS/ BEL/ KALEX – (+0.055)
3. Sergio GARCIA/ SPA/ BOSCOSCURO – (+0.742)
17. Senna AGIUS/ AUS/ KALEX – (+27.060)
18. Darryn BINDER/ RSA/ KALEX – (+28.515)

Riders Championship
1. LOPEZ Alonso/ SPA – 25
2. BALTUS Barry/ BEL – 20
3. GARCIA Sergio/ SPA – 16
17. AGIUS Senna/ AUS – 0
18. BINDER Darryn/ RSA – 0

Senna Agius

P17 - (+27.060)
Moto2 World Championship 2024 - P17 - 0 Points

"After a good start, I was pushed off a bit and lost a few positions. To be honest, I had to use the tyres a lot to catch up anyone. When half the race distance came, I had nothing left. The positive thing is that I managed to ride the bike in such a way that I was able to make up so much ground towards the end when everyone else was struggling. Anyway, there is something to analyze, but there is no one to blame. I think we lost the second practice session on Friday night because of the rain and that's where we could have found out how the tyre works under the floodlight. But that session was taken away from us, so we didn't have a clear option for the race, which we went into blind. It was the first time we learned so much from one weekend that we approached the other weekends differently and prepared differently for the race. I haven't been here in Qatar for many years. I was just a kid back then and it's nice to race here. But I feel good going back to Portimao next time, where I have some experience, and also with what we learned this weekend, and therefore can work differently to prepare for Sunday there."

Darryn Binder

P18 - (+28.515)
Moto2 World Championship 2024 - P18 - 0 Points

"After only having a few days of testing and only being able to start the first race weekend with limited practice in the evening due to the rain on Friday, we opted for the hard front and rear tyres today in the hope that this would be the best for the entire race distance. So, we will analyze everything with the team and see what the other guys choose so we can improve our tyre choice next time. I had a good start and was in the front group, but after the first five laps, I really struggled for the rest of the race. So, it's a very disappointing end to this weekend, especially after yesterday, because I felt I had found good speed and qualified for a good grid position. I improved a lot overall. It's very disappointing. But it's the first race we've gone into blind, and we have to learn from this and figure out things for the next race."

Jürgen Lingg

Team Manager

"Our boys actually had a good weekend, because they both improved steadily and secured good grid positions. It's a shame that things went differently in the race. It was clear to us that we’re still lacking experience with the new tyres. In addition, the second practice session on Friday evening was worthless due to the rain. The change in track conditions from daytime to evening meant that we missed out on this valuable practice time. Ultimately, we made the wrong tyre choice for the race. We opted for the harder one because it turned out over the course of the weekend that it worked better, which was at least the case in the afternoon. But that wasn't the case in the conditions in the evening. Even in qualifying, we were better off with the hard compound, but the short session was not conclusive enough. In the race, it worked well in the first few laps until the big drop came and from then on nothing worked. There's no point in complaining, we have to tick off Qatar. In any case, we have learned something from it and can look to the future. The whole team did a good job throughout the weekend, and we will take the positives with us. Not just us, but all the other teams had to play poker with the tyre choice."

Qatar GP 2024 – Moto2 Sunday

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