Brad Binder wins Argentina MotoGP sprint after starting from 15th

KTM rider Brad Binder put on an incredible display to take the victory from 15th on the starting grid in the Argentina MotoGP sprint.

A strong start and a very aggressive inside line through Turn 1 let Binder gain the lead in just under three laps. He ultimately held off late pressure from Marco Bezzecchi to take the victory.

Franco Morbidelli temporarily claimed the lead at Turn 1 after using his strong launch to surge down the inside of the bend, thanks to his quick-start after starting on the second row. The Factory Yamaha rider did gain speed on exit to secure second place while Gresini Ducati’s poleman Alex Marquez retook the lead on the exit.

But second quickly changed to first when the Yamaha rider passed Marquez later in the lap. Marquez’s attempt for counterattack was thwarted when he, who had switched to a medium front late in qualifying, experienced a severe wobble at Turn 4 and dropped to fourth.

As a result, Binder, who had gained an incredible 12 positions on the first lap, was now Morbidelli’s closest pursuer. On the third lap, he lined up a move for the lead through the Turns 9–10 sector before eventually diving down to the inside of Morbidelli at the undulating Turn 11.

The maneuver put Binder at the forefront of a nine-bike leading pack, with intense battles raging around every curve behind him, albeit Morbidelli and Luca Marini, on his VR46 Ducati, did manage to position himself in either second or third place.

Once the 12-lap race approached its second half, Binder started to make a serious break for it as Marini struggled to get past the former Valentino Rossi teammate Morbidelli. By the time Marini successfully surged down the inside of Morbidelli at Turn 9, Binder was already seven tenths of a second ahead.

That lead appeared untouchable with three laps left, and it appeared more so when Marini eventually faced pressure from teammate Bezzecchi, with whom he had made contact earlier in the race and who passed Morbidelli a few turns after Marini passed.

However, Bezzecchi immediately attacked his VR46 teammate after that and, when the race’s last lap began, narrowed the gap to just four tenths. That distance was cut in half in just one sector thanks to Bezzecchi, who was already there at Turn 5 to make a move but proved to be a little too far ahead.

That was about as close as he would go, as Binder held his ground for the remainder of the lap to defeat Bezzecchi by 0.072 seconds, with Marini sealing the podium.

Morbidelli faded at the end of the race but hung on for fourth place, his best result in a MotoGP race since May 2021.

Marquez was able to retake fifth place from Pecco Bagnaia of Ducati, who was currently leading the championship.

Maverick Vinales was the only Aprilia driver to earn any points, finishing seventh after a very disappointing race for the manufacturer, which seemed to be the standard for the majority of the weekend.

Aleix Espargaro, a teammate of Vinales, and a large number of other bikes engaged in intense battle for the majority of the race until Espargaro crashed out on high speed but escaped unharmed.

In a close-to-race-long duel for eighth position, Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) overcame Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), with Quartararo earning the final point ahead of Jack Miller, who finished in tenth place for the KTM team.

Hondas failed to score, and a scary-looking crash for Joan Mir on the first lap further impacted the team’s performance.

2023 ARGENTINA MOTOGP SPRINT RACE RESULTS