Petronas SRT’s Darryn Binder controlled both Moto3 practice sessions ahead of the AustrianGP at Spielberg on Friday.
Topping the standings with a 1’36.215, the South African was joined in the top-three by Romano Fenati and Pedro Acosta, his fellow Honda rider John McPhee sitting just 0.391s back in ninth after rain called time early on FP2.
Friday’s return to the Red Bull Ring saw the KTM’s in charge after the opening laps. Acosta led Jaume Masia by just 0.4s as Binder joined the fight and the times began to shuffle. The entire top-10 were covered by the same margin as the fifth laps registered on the timing screens, 1’36.983 the early benchmark - just half a second shy of last weekend’s pole time - with plenty more to come.
A turn seven moment for Acosta made sure the rookie was fully awake after 15-minutes of action, before he returned to the garage, Binder continuing to reign at the top while Petronas teammate McPhee circulated in seventh. Tatsuki Suzuki, Fenati and Filip Salac completed the top-five with Kaito Toba narrowly ahead of the Scot at the halfway stage.
The final 15-minutes kicked off with McPhee joining his team-mate at the top of the times, two-tenths separating the Petronas pair with Salac trailing a mere 0.093s back in third before the Scot further refined his effort on the next two revolutions to take the lead with a 1’36.912.
The closing three-minutes saw Dennis Foggia advance the pace with a 1’36.7 as the Italian cut a solo figure for the Leopard squad after Xavi Artigas tested positive, yet asymptotic, for Covid-19. The StyrianGP pole-man, Deniz Öncü, edging closer to his time from last Saturday as the first to set a 1’36.4 this weekend, before Binder and Izan Guevara joined the fray, with the trio separated by just 0.069s.
It was Acosta who was back in control as the final minute counted down, 1’36.333 the best time so far with Guevara, Stefano Nepa, Binder and Öncü holding the top-five. The last push giving Binder the glory - thanks to his 1’36.215 - from a hard-charging Fenati as Acosta settled for third at the flag. McPhee sitting ninth and just four-tenths adrift after the morning’s 40-minute practice.
The afternoon got underway as the previous had concluded, with Binder in charge. Acosta and McPhee were firmly on his tail as the opening laps quickly headed towards the morning’s best times, Öncü jining the fray after 10 minutes on track.
Ayumu Sasaki was up to fifth after five laps of action. Sergio Garcia, Suzuki, Guevara and Andrea Migno remaining in touch from the second half of the top-10, while Fenati led Gabriel Rodrigo from 11th and 12th.
As the mid-session lull saw the majority of the pack in the pits, Acosta and Masia continued to circulate - the latter floundering in 19th as the session unfolded, albeit inside of the Q2 promotion places so far, in 13th overall.
The field began to fire up once again as the second half counted down, Acosta the first to push as he looked to advance the times, losing out in the final sector on repeated attempts before returning to the KTM garage.
Foggia was up to fourth with two-thirds done, an incredible 0.098s splitting him from Binder at the head of the times, with Öncü a further 0.041 behind.
The rain began to make its presence felt with 12-minutes left to run despite the 30℃ air temperatures. The track falling quiet as the bikes filed down pitlane and they waited to assess the conditions, with a heavy downpour of hail then torrential rain following the initial light showers.
FP2 completed without a bike on track, Binder claiming both session and overall honours at the head of the standings, his 1’36.215 leading the way with no improvements from any of the top-14. Suzuki the first of only four riders to improve on their morning time, unlucky to sit 15th and provisionally outside of the promotions zone at the end of the day.
