Binder staring down the barrel after leaving France empty-handed

Brad Binder’s hopes of keeping his MotoGP seat post 2026 continued to fade during a dismal outing at the French Grand Prix at the weekend.

After leaving Le Mans with no points, the embattled Red Bull KTM man slipped from 11th to 13th in the premier class title race. And he’ll have little time to lick his wounds, going straight from France into the Catalan MotoGP this week.

Binder’s well-documented troubles again started during qualification. He could only manage 21st place in a below-par performance, which he described as “useless” on Saturday.

No points for Brad Binder

A determined ride saw him work his way through the field to finish 12th in the sprint race, three places outside the points. On Sunday, he had worked his way up to 11th place before crashing out with six laps to go.

“I locked the front wheel going into turn 7 and the change of direction. It was a fast crash. I braked a bit later and with a bit more pressure. It was just too much,” said Binder, whose KTM contract runs out at the end of this season.

“Today I was a lot faster, but not where I need to be. The positive is that this morning in warm-up I was quicker and in the race also [than Saturday]. I felt like I was on my way forward. Everything felt easier.”

Aprilia going places

2024 premier class champion Jorge Martin stormed to a double win at Le Mans. The Spaniard moved up to 127 points, just one behind factory Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi.

Trackhouse Racing’s Ai Ogura and Rual Fernandez’ fifth and sixth places means that only two of the top six in the championship are not non-Aprilia riders. They are third-placed Fabio Di Giannantonio on a Ducati and Binder’s KTM team-mate Pedro Acosta in fourth.

Teenager Ruché Moodley is still searching for his first points of the season after finishing the Moto3 race in France in 17th place.