Team boss left disappointed as RC16 rubberware issues flare up again at Japan MotoGP.
In stark contrast to Marc Marquez celebrating his seventh MotoGP title on Sunday, Brad Binder and the Red Bull KTM team was left gutted after yet another below par performance at the Japan Grand Prix.
Citing heavy tyre wear at the Motegi layout, Binder could only manage 12th place in the main race. His team-mate Pedro Acosta crashed out on lap 10, while fellow KTM riders Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales pipped Binder on the line to take 11th place and finished outside the points respectively.
Binder started in a lowly 18th place on the grid after suffering a crash during qualifying on Saturday. He also finished the sprint race in 12th, which is three places outside the points. He still 11th in the championship on 105 points, 19 points outside the top 10.
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Brad Binder find the going tough
“A difficult weekend. I had a really good start but we had a lot of chatter from the beginning which made it difficult to ride the bike,” Binder told the KTM website.
“The wheelspin when we were upright also finished the tyre. Very tricky because I cannot take advantage of drive and corner entry is tough. If we can get to a circuit where we can lessen the chatter then we can do something; hopefully in Indonesia.”
Team boss Aki Ajo was left disappointed with the tyre wear on the RC16 not improving in Japan after experiencing similar issues at Motegi last year.
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KTM boss puzzled
“We knew from 2024 that we could have a tirewear challenge here in Motegi. But even in the race today with the harder option it was worse than we anticipated,” Ako said.
“Now we need to deeply analyse why things happened this way for these grip conditions and for this track. We will reset and go again at Mandalika and focus again on the podium there.”
Darryn, Ruché left empty-handed
The other two South Africans in action, Darryn Binder and Ruché Moodley, left Japan empty handed. Binder crashed out of the Moto2 race and Moodley finished 19th in Moto3.
The Indonesia MotoGP this weekend is the second race of the first double header on the Eastern swing.
