Sunshine and blue skies coated qualification and the final MotoGP Sprint of the season around the flat and winding Circuito Ricardo Tormo, and the resurfaced asphalt staged a searing charge by Brad Binder as the South African scored 2nd place on his KTM RC16. Teammate Jack Miller finished 12th but shone in qualification for 4th on the grid.
- MotoGP 2023 comes to an end with the latest finale ever to a Grand Prix season and with a busy circuit in Valencia staging the 26th MotoGP at the track
- Brad Binder, 5th fastest in qualification, notched his seventh Sprint podium medal of the year with 2nd place and classifying less than two tenths of a second from a third victory
- Jack Miller recovered from a fast dismount on Friday to qualify 4th and ensure both RC16s enter the second row of the grid. He then fought back from an issue at the start to take 12th
- The chase for 2nd and 3rd in the 2023 Moto3 world championship goes down to the last with Deniz Öncü and Daniel Holgado launching from 3rd and 18th on the grid. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Pedro Acosta will start his last Moto2 Grand Prix (and as the 2023 world champion) from 5th position
The Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana, the traditional season-closing event for MotoGP, was tremendously lucky with the late autumn climate in eastern Spain as blue skies and warm sunshine helped raise the temperatures for practice on Friday and then the qualification run and final Sprint of the season on Saturday.
The confined, tight and curving 4km course had been resurfaced and was a grippy prospect for the riders and teams, contemplating the last Grand Prix of the season and also of a demanding triple header. On Friday Brad Binder and Jack Miller were immediately on pace; Binder was just one thousandth of a second from the seven year all-time lap record and ranked 6th. Miller had two falls but was still fast enough to make Q2 comfortably as less than half a second split the top ten.
The team then entered Q2 and were competitive from the outset. Binder held P1 and lapped consistently on the fringe of the old lap record. The South African looked to be heading for the first row until the final minutes when a sterling effort from Miller lifted the Aussie up to 3rd. When the ’00:00’ flashed up both KTMs were inside the top five and side-by-side on the second row.
The Sprint lasted for 13 laps and Binder lunged into contention for the win while Miller had a technical problem that affected his start and meant he had to cut from the rear of the pack all the way to his finishing position of 12th. Brad meanwhile caught and passed two riders to seize the lead briefly. He then shadowed Jorge Martin all the way to the flag through the last circulations; the gap was less than two tenths of a second at the finish.
MotoGP will rush around the circuit for 27 laps on Sunday afternoon at 15.00 (CEST).
