Darryn Binder, Brad’s younger brother, will make his MotoGP debut next year aboard the Yamaha of the new RNF Racing team, which takes the place of the Petronas Sepang Racing Team. The transition to the premier class of the young South African has been much discussed in recent weeks, following the controversial accident in Portugal with Dennis Foggia, who in fact handed the world championship to Pedro Acosta.
It is understood that Binder’s role as second driver in the team alongside Andrea Dovizioso depends on the substantial contribution he can bring to the team. He finished last week’s two-day Jerez test in last position in the timesheet, with a 3.069 second lead, although he gained 1.8 seconds from day one.
When asked by Autosport if he felt any pressure coming to the test, given the recent discussions about his move to MotoGP, Binder replied: “Not at all. The team has been really helpful in this regard. Everyone was super calm, we took this first test as a first approach with the bike, but we will start working next year. We will have the shakedown in Malaysia, and then when the real test starts in Sepang, we can start working. Until then it’s just about building slowly, figuring out what I need to do to ride this bike, learning as much as possible about everything and slowly starting to put it together. There is no rush, there is no reason. At the end of Friday, if I did 1’39 “or 1’38”, I was always two seconds away, it wouldn’t have made a difference. “
Binder’s second day was interrupted by a highside in the afternoon, which he believes blocked his progress in some way, because it prevented him from being able to make the most of the conditions: “In the beginning we were just putting on tires and gasoline, but slowly I was getting faster and faster. Just when we started diving in the holeshot, unfortunately around lunchtime I had a big accident ”.
“This really slowed down the progress, unfortunately – he continues – so, I spent about a good hour on the floor of the truck doing some stretching. In the afternoon we managed to get back out and started rebuilding everything again, because I wasn’t feeling my best. But in the end we tried a few things with electronics, holeshot and stuff like that, and I was still getting better. We tried the medium and soft tires, just to understand a few things. I feel we could have taken a bigger step if I hadn’t fallen, because we lost a lot of precious time in the good temperatures. “
Darryn Binder, RNF Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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