Brad Binder has started the 2024 MotoGP season well. The South African had warned that the KTM was ready for the challenge and that the pre-season times did not show the real potential of Mattighofen's bike. This was evident in Saturday's Sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix.
After a fantastic start, a trademark of the RC16, the number 33 took second place, a position he would never relinquish during the 11 laps of the race. And this despite him trying to pass Jorge Martin to steal the victory, which he failed to do, and despite him resisting Aleix Espargaro's final push.
After the first short race of the season, Binder spoke to DAZN about the fantastic level of the 2024 RC16, which with the progress made during the winter has shown “new strengths”, which he hopes will help it break Ducati's dominance in the premier class.
“I gave it my all to try to overtake him on the first lap,” began Binder, clearly referring to Martin. “I tried to overtake him at Turn 1. But I was still a bit uncertain about what the last good point was for braking, because today we lapped on the soft tires all day, and they were the first laps we did at night” .
“I had to find some references in braking. But I'm very happy with the steps forward we've made. I have very strong corner entry, and also a good pace. Then we see that we have some very strong points compared to those that we had last year. Let's see what we can do tomorrow,” he continued.
The Potchefstroom rider also noted that the bike still moves a lot and that the rear grip can still improve: “The KTM moves a little more than the previous bikes, but it's incredible how good the bike is. In corners and under braking it is very strong compared to the 2023. So congratulations to my team, we have new strengths, but we also need more grip at the rear to fight with the others. I drifted a lot in the middle of the corner, until the end. We will try to do this last step.”
“We always lack a bit of grip at the rear, and that's what we'll need tomorrow to try to stay with Jorge. I'm confident we can make a change for tomorrow,” concluded Binder, thinking about the options for the long race in Sunday.
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