Veijer scores 5th and more Moto3™ plaudits for Husqvarna in Austria

Collin Veijer keeps his eyes fixed on a 2024 Moto3 world championship medal with his eighth top five classification of the season after a riveting Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.

Round eleven of 2024 MotoGP ventured to central Europe and to the spectacular setting of the Red Bull Ring in southern Austria for the start of the second half of the current campaign. Warm temperatures but unstable weather coated the Grand Prix and the impressive facility in Spielberg that has entertained the series every year since 2016. Rooted in history, the Red Bull Ring has carved a reputation for a busy, eager and cosmopolitan attendance and for one of the best organisations and structures on the slate.

The track itself involves high speed challenges through the 10 corners. The emphasis lies on hard braking and full-on acceleration rather than corner-speed flow. The Husqvarna Intact GP team travelled to Austria with good memories of the 2023 Moto3 race: a photo finish and podium presence but also distinction for Collin Veijer as the then-rookie earned Pole Position and his best Moto3 classification until that point with 4th, less than two tenths of a second from victory.

Veijer started the Grand Prix strongly with P3 in both Practice sessions on the FR 250 GP machine. Tatsuki Suzuki was under a second from the top effort. Q2 occurred in bright and sunny conditions and the close spread of lap-times saw the Dutchman slotted into 3rd once more – 0.1 behind Pole – as his Japanese teammate was 13th and 0.8 of a second adrift.

The grid roared away on Sunday morning for 20 intense laps and under grey clouds. The leading group formed from seven riders for the most part as the pack eventually funnelled down to five protagonists for the podium prizes. Veijer circulated in 5th while Suzuki – who had to serve a Long Lap penalty - could not quite force his way into the running and engaged in a fight for the top ten, eventually passing the flag in 12th. He was at least able to notch the quickest lap of the race. In the critical last lap Veijer just missed the last percentages of grip to be able to attack and secured 5th: three tenths of a second from P1. The team gave a Grand Prix debut to youngster Jakob Rosenthaler and the Austrian was 22nd.

Collin pocketed 11 points for his push in Austria. Combined with the rest of the results sheet he still holds 4th in the Moto3 standings but is only 11 points from 2nd place. Tatsuzki is 13th.

MotoGP takes another pause this week before the commute to the Iberian Peninsula and the sprawling MotorLand Aragon circuit in eastern Spain.

Collin Veijer, 5th: “Not bad, my feeling on the bike was OK. I closed to the front group and tried to get my rhythm but lacked something with the front end and had to slow the pace again. The others passed me and I could not overtake them. Anyway, some points and I’m sure we can do well at Aragon.”

Tatsuki Suzuki, 12th: “Quite a positive race but it was a shame about the Long Lap penalty from qualifying yesterday. We made the maximum we could today and set the fastest lap also. We wanted a better result but there are positive things to take to Aragon.”

IntactGP were keen to carry the positive momentum from the Moto2 British Grand Prix into Austria. Darryn Binder and Senna Agius both entered the top ten at Silverstone and although Red Bull Ring was a shorter and different kind of layout, the South African and Australian were hitting good form at the mid-season stage. On Friday Darryn was the quicker of the duo and hovered on the edge of the top ten with Senna a few tenths of a second away. After Saturday Binder qualified 12th and Agius 18th on the grid with minimal differences between the riders. Moto2 rounded Red Bull Ring for 23 laps on Sunday as the sunshine had belatedly appeared. Binder eyed the maximum amount of points and made it to 7th; the score representing his second-best haul of the season. Agius persevered to 15th for the final point on the day and holds the same number in the championship standings. Binder is now up to 16th.

Darryn Binder, 7th: “I’m really happy with the whole weekend in general. I made good steps forward and was in the top ten almost all the sessions. A small mistake in qualifying left me in 12th and I would have loved to have been further forward on the grid because during the race it was quite difficult to make passes. I did a good job. We’re heading in the right direction and after a few more top tens we can start thinking about the top five. We just have to keep chipping away.”

Senna Agius, 15th: “To take points home is always the first goal but this weekend that was not the performance or the feeling we’ve had in the previous races. We lost some of our strong points so we need to work to get those back soon. Happy to leave here with something and a big thanks to the team, they never stopped working. We didn’t achieve what I wanted but we all worked for it…and I hope we’ll get near to our ambitions again soon.”

Results Moto3 British Grand Prix

1. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO 33:40.607, 2. David Muñoz (ESP) KTM +0.121, 3. Daniel Holgado (ESP) GASGAS +0.126, 5. Collin Veijer (NED) Husqvarna +0.303, 7. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +2.790, 12. Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN) Husqvarna +8.447, 14. Jacob Roulstone (AUS) GASGAS +11.704, 18. Xabi Zurutuza (ESP) KTM +19.272, 25. Joel Esteban (ESP) CFMOTO +30.457

World Championship standings Moto3

1. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO, 224 points, 2. Ivan Ortola (ESP) KTM, 153, 3. Daniel Holgado (ESP) GASGAS, 149, 4. Collin Veijer (NED) Husqvarna, 142, 8. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP), KTM, 74, 13. Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN) Husqvarna, 48, 14. Jacob Roulstone (AUS) GASGAS, 46, 15. Joel Esteban (ESP) CFMOTO, 41, 22. Xabi Zurutuza (ESP) KTM, 3

Results Moto2 Austrian Grand Prix

1. Celestino Vietti (ITA) KTM 36:22.427, 2. Alonso Lopez (ESP) +1.850, 3. Jake Dixon (GBR) CFMOTO +1.974, 7. Darryn Binder (RSA) Husqvarna +12.514, 11. Deniz Öncü (TUR) KTM +13.872, 12. Izan Guevara (ESP) CFMOTO +14.336, 15. Senna Agius (AUS) Husqvarna +18.121

World Championship standings Moto2

1. Sergio Garcia (ESP), 162 points, 2. Ai Ogura (JPN), 142, 3. Joe Roberts (USA), 130, 6. Celestino Vietti (ITA) KTM, 96, 7. Jake Dixon (GBR) CFMOTO, 94, 15. Senna Agius (AUS) Husqvarna, 33, 16. Darryn Binder (RSA) Husqvarna, 25, 17. Izan Guevara (ESP) CFMOTO, 25, 23. Deniz Öncü (TUR) KTM, 11