in early April. From the first
session the orange bikes were
clearly dialed in. Yet Binder, who
scored a stunning victory in
Saturday's Sprint, wasn't alone.
Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM)—
third in both encounters—was
able backup. And Pedrosa
showed he had lost none of
edge, with a pair of miraculous
showings. KTM's aggressive
efforts to become MotoGP front
runners surely won't end here.
It wasn't just the aggression of
KTM's men on display here. Turn
two was the scene of a mas
-
sive first-lap scare in Saturday's
Sprint. And a red flag was shown
for the second day in succession
after Fabio Quartararo (Monster
Energy Yamaha) found himself
sandwiched between Marco Bez
-
zecchi (VR46 Ducati) and Miguel
Oliveira (RNF Aprilia) in the mid-
pack melee. As he was squeezed
by the men on either side, he
fell, taking the Portuguese rider
down. A dislocated left shoulder
and upper humerus fracture was
the Austrian factory—and test
rider Dani Pedrosa (Red Bull
KTM), who made a first wildcard
appearance since August, 2021—
tested at the Andalusian venue
VOLUME ISSUE MAY , P85
YAMAHA NIGHTMARE
It's been a nightmare weekend for
Yamaha. Fabio Quartararo suf-
fered his worst qualifying perfor-
mance in MotoGP on Saturday at
a track where he had previously
scored four pole positions, as well
as second place in last year's
Q2. "I'm running always on the
limit," he said. "When I'm doing
the pace, this morning I did a lot of
1:37s. In the second run we tried
something on the bike that was
really bad. But it's not normal that
you make the pace 1:37.3, you put
a new tire, you should get at least
minimum 6/10ths. But only 3/10ths
with different map, different engine
brake, low fuel, new tires and you
only improve 3/10ths. There is
something really strange."
MARQUEZ
ABSENT AGAIN
Marc Marquez revealed he could
be risking his career by returning
to competition too early after he
surprisingly opted to sit out the
Spanish GP due to injury. The
eight-time champ revealed three
separate teams of doctors advised
him to sit out this weekend as the
first metacarpal in his right hand,
which he fractured at round one,
has not fully healed. "I tried to re-
cover in four weeks, but honestly
speaking the doctors from the be-
ginning said between six to eight
weeks. After Tuesday's CT scan
we check with the Madrid medi-
cal team, and they say that it was
too risky. If I reinjure again, they
advise to me that there will be a
big damage. Not only for three
months more, also for my career."
Marquez was not even sure he
would be present in Le Mans in
two weeks' time.
Briefly...
The number-one Ducati
hounded Binder's KTM until the
coup de grace came with four
laps remaining.
