San Marino MotoGP turns into a nightmare with two factory RC16s breaking down.
After making steady progress with the RC16 of late, reliability issues at the San Marino MotoGP left Red Bull KTM with more questions than answers at the weekend.
Brad Binder finished the main race at Misano in 10th place on Sunday on the only RC16 that made it to the chequered flag. His factory team-mate Pedro Acosta had to retire from fourth place on lap eight, while both Tech riders Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales crashed out.
Technical issues marred Binder on Saturday when he had to switch bikes during qualifying, eventually failing to make it to Q2. Starting from a lowly 16th place, he never broke into the top 10 before retiring his bike with a technical issue with three laps to go.
Brad Binder left frustrated
“I’ve been jumping between bikes this weekend, so it hasn’t been easy,” he told KTM after the sprint race.
While Binder was able to get his RC16 across the line during the main race on Sunday, it wasn’t plain sailing.
“A really difficult race. It was hard to push-on from the beginning and there was a big difference between front and rear grip. Then there was a lot of chatter from 12 laps onwards and it was hard to stay up.
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“Really tricky, and we didn’t expect that. In the end we could put together the weekend that we planned.”
Red Bull KTM team boss Aki Ajo was hopeful to get some answers during the official test day at Misano on Monday. It is the last chance to gather information before the MotoGP show heads east for a four-race swing.
“Definitely not our day in Misano and the weekend generally has been challenging after many positive GPs in a row. We had expectations for today but luck was not on our side,” said Ajo said.
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Marc Marquez closes in on title
The six points Binder earned in San Marino sees him move up to 101 points, 16 points outside the top 10.
Marc Marquez’s win on Sunday saw him set a new MotoGP points record of 512 with six rounds still to go. He leads his brother Alex by 182 points and can win his seventh premier class title during the main race in Japan.
The other two South Africans had a day to forget in Misano. Brad Binder’s brother Darryn Binder and Ruché Moodley both finished outside the points in their respective Moto2 and Moto3 races.
