Binder’s charge
Protagonist of an amazing fight for victory with Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia in the last Thai Grand Prix, Brad Binder is ready to get back on track this weekend for the Malaysian Grand Prix, the first of the three final events of this season. Winner on the track Sepang in 2019, on the occasion of his last year in Moto2 before moving up to the premier class, the KTM South African is motivated to return to the top step of the podium this season, however doing so for the first time at the end of a long race, unlike to the two previous successes achieved in the Sprints of Argentina and Spain.
The will to win again
An objective that reflects the team’s project Red Bull KTMintending to remain in the top areas of the ranking also to forget the problems suffered at the beginning of the year during the pre-season tests on the Malaysian circuit: “The plan is to pick up where we left off last time, stay in the leading group and try to fight again until the last lap, but with the hope of making it! It would be nice – commented Binder in the pre-weekend Piloti press conference – I certainly have good memories here, it’s a track that I really like. It will be interesting for me, because in testing we had a lot of problems and the guys did a great job during the season on the bike. Now things are completely different, it will be interesting to see how big a step we have made.”
In Sepang just under a year later
But what were the biggest problems that KTM had encountered during the tests? A question to which Binder responded by praising the work of his team, which with continuous hard work has managed to develop the bike allowing its rider to get on the podium 10 times in 2023: “The most important thing is that when we were here in February we were trying to decide which direction to go – he recalled – I don’t think I’ve done more than two rides with the same bike and I’ve played with all the parameters. Now, if we look at where we were and where we are now, things are completely different and the most important thing I’m looking forward to is riding comfortably on this track. It should be fun”.
Putting the pieces together
Binder’s aim is therefore to be able to win his first main race of this season, returning to triumph after the last success obtained in Austria in 2021, with the exception of the two Sprints already mentioned. The fact remains that, thanks to his latest podium finish in Buriram, the 28-year-old has set the record of the greatest number of podiums won by a South African rider in the MotoGP: “If I look at my last two races, it seems to me that in Australia I made a bit of a mess and last time I really wanted to try and shine. I haven’t been able to put the pieces together. I feel like over the last five or six circuits we have been fast and I would love nothing more than to finally get a win for my team. We won two Sprints, but the goal is a main race. That’s a really interesting statistic (the one relating to the podium record) but it’s very different. Today we have 21 races, whereas at the time they had less than half, so that’s not really correct! In any case, it’s a very nice and fantastic thing to know. For me it’s fantastic to see how MotoGP is growing in South Africa. Every time I come home it seems like more and more people are enjoying the races like I do. Who knows? The better things go here, the better they can be at home too!”
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