Johannesburg — Brad Binder and Red Bull KTM will have learnt much from their RC16s after the season-opening Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday.
The 27-year-old started the MotoGP race in 15th position and in an almighty effort, battled his way to a respectable sixth, one position better than teammate Jack Miller. Suffering from a neck and shoulder injury, Binder managed to out-race Miller, who started fifth on the grid, and pushed as high as a possible fourth-place finish before Johann Zarco took advantage of that scrap to sneak into the position during the last two laps of the race.
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Binder might be building a reputation as “The Sunday Man” but his qualifying pace remains a concern, and although he can be well pleased with his performance at the Algarve International Circuit, he must improve in that area post haste if he is to threaten the podium this year.
Binder also acknowledged that his biggest concern for this weekend’s Argentinian Grand Prix will be his fitness.
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“(Sunday) was pretty good,” Binder said after the race.
“It has been a hard weekend because it was very tough for me to get comfortable on the bike. I was suffering a lot, but (on Sunday) my team made a big step forward with my RC16 and I was much more confident in the end.
“The last five laps were really demanding physically, but the step forwards we made was very satisfying and I’m hoping for more in Argentina. I just need to figure out how to be 100% fit there.”
It was a concern shared by his KTM team manager Francesco Guidotti.
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“Brad was struggling with his neck, but the bike setup was much more in the direction he wanted,” Guidotti said.
“He had a super-good race. (Saturday) his distance to the winner was eight seconds and (on Sunday) it was the same but at double the laps, so this was significant. A massive improvement.
“Let’s go to Argentina. A blank page again, and we’ll see.”
IOL Sport