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South African star was in high spirits coming into premier class season is the hope had a better bike.
Brad Binder during a promotional event ahead of the Germany MotoGP. Picture: Red Bull KTM
Coming into his sixth MotoGP season, Brad Binder said that a testing 2024 campaign has made him a better rider and will put him in good stead to fight the front runners in 2025.
That was provided he has the hardware to do so, but his Red Bull KTM RC16 clearly did not get the memo. Besides being outpaced by the usual Ducati-brigade, KTM has also been shown up by Aprilia, Honda and Yamaha.
It could have been even worse for the orange garage had defending champion Jorge Martin been fit. The Spaniard missed nine out of the first 10 races after moving from Ducati to Aprilia this year.
Nightmare season for Brad Binder
After 10 races, Binder is languishing in 13th placed in the title race on 47 points. While his fellow KTM rider Pedro Acosta and Maverick Vinales have shown more pace, they are only in eighth and 10th place respectively on 98 and 69 points. This is light years behind Marc Marquez who is running away with the MotoGP championship on 307 points going into this weekend’s German Grand Prix.
Binder has at least recovered from a wobble that saw him earning three points in seven starts. The Red bull KTM bounced back with a ninth and 10th place finish at Mugello and the TT Assen. But by his own high admission, he should be competing much higher up the field.
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“We need to go home and analyse where I was losing the time. In general, it is nothing too serious we just need a bit more speed,” he said after the Dutch MotoGP.
Happy hunting ground
Binder might want to draw inspiration from his Moto2 victory at the Sachsenring in 2018 when he takes to the track this weekend. He stormed from 10th on the grid to take the chequered flag ahead if six riders he now competed against in the premier class.
Brad Binder’s brother Darryn Binder will look to earn his first Moto2 points since the second round of the season at the 3.67km Sachsenring.
Moto3 rider Ruché Moodley is still recovering after suffering a heavy crash at the Italian Grand Prix.
The MotoGP sprint race in Germany takes place at 3pm on Saturday with the main race at 2pm on Sunday. The Moto2 race precedes the main event at 12.25pm on Sunday.
