With his status as KTM's top man under increasing pressure, South Africa's Brad Binder heads to this weekend's MotoGP at Le Mans in France hoping to revive his early season form after slipping to seventh in the title chase in Spain two weeks ago.
The factory KTM rider finished sixth in Sunday's main race at Jerez after crashing out of Saturday's sprint, and trails championship leader Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) by 33 points.
Binder opened his account with second place at the season opening Qatar grand prix but has since failed to reach the podium, placing fourth in Portugal and ninth in the US.
Binder's shine has been somewhat dulled by rookie sensation Pedro Acosta (Red Bull Gas Gas Tech 3), last year's Moto2 champion, who is fourth in the standings (on 69 points to Binder's 59) after a stellar start to a MotoGP career that has seen him taking two podiums in four races.
Acosta's performance on the KTM-engined Gas Gas makes it almost certain the Spanish teenager will progress to the factory team next year, possibly as a replacement to struggling Australian Jack Miller, who is out of contract at the end of the season. Binder's seat is safe because he is contracted with KTM until the end of 2026, but his status as KTM's star rider is under threat from the impressive rookie.
Reacting to his sixth place in Jerez, Spain on April 28, Binder said: “The race was a little bit tricky. I did not get the same start as yesterday and didn’t have the same pace as the boys upfront. I tried my best but it wasn’t quite our day. I had a lot of chatter from the first lap and it made it difficult to carry corner speed. We need to sit down and work out what was going on because that was the first time we had the issue this weekend.”
After the Spanish MotoGP the teams stayed at Jerez for the first official in-season test of the year, where Binder reported finding significant improvements in a particular area of his Red Bull KTM RC16.
“One good improvement we’ve made in this test was setting stuff with the rear shock. We managed to get the bike a little bit more stable, which was cool,” he said.
Jorge Martin is on 92 points after four rounds and has a 17-point lead over second-place Francesco Bagnaia, whose factory Ducati team mate Enea Bastianini is a further five points behind in third. Acosta is fourth ahead of Aprilia's Maverick Vinales and six-time champion Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati).
The fifth race of this year's 21-round title chase takes place this weekend at the Bugatti circuit, a permanent race track located within the legendary 24 Hours circuit. Binder was sixth in last year's race, 13.6 seconds behind race winner Marco Bezzecchi.
Earlier this month it was announced that new MotoGP rules from 2027 will reduce the bikes' engine size from 1,000cc to 850cc and ban all ride-height and holeshot devices in a bid to limit performance and make races safer.
The new rules will also introduce tighter controls on aerodynamics to help create closer racing with more overtaking.
Brad Binder finds a ‘significant’ bike tweak ahead of Le Mans MotoGP
The South African is in danger of losing his KTM star status to Spanish sensation Pedro Acosta
Image: Reuters
With his status as KTM's top man under increasing pressure, South Africa's Brad Binder heads to this weekend's MotoGP at Le Mans in France hoping to revive his early season form after slipping to seventh in the title chase in Spain two weeks ago.
The factory KTM rider finished sixth in Sunday's main race at Jerez after crashing out of Saturday's sprint, and trails championship leader Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) by 33 points.
Binder opened his account with second place at the season opening Qatar grand prix but has since failed to reach the podium, placing fourth in Portugal and ninth in the US.
Binder's shine has been somewhat dulled by rookie sensation Pedro Acosta (Red Bull Gas Gas Tech 3), last year's Moto2 champion, who is fourth in the standings (on 69 points to Binder's 59) after a stellar start to a MotoGP career that has seen him taking two podiums in four races.
Acosta's performance on the KTM-engined Gas Gas makes it almost certain the Spanish teenager will progress to the factory team next year, possibly as a replacement to struggling Australian Jack Miller, who is out of contract at the end of the season. Binder's seat is safe because he is contracted with KTM until the end of 2026, but his status as KTM's star rider is under threat from the impressive rookie.
Reacting to his sixth place in Jerez, Spain on April 28, Binder said: “The race was a little bit tricky. I did not get the same start as yesterday and didn’t have the same pace as the boys upfront. I tried my best but it wasn’t quite our day. I had a lot of chatter from the first lap and it made it difficult to carry corner speed. We need to sit down and work out what was going on because that was the first time we had the issue this weekend.”
After the Spanish MotoGP the teams stayed at Jerez for the first official in-season test of the year, where Binder reported finding significant improvements in a particular area of his Red Bull KTM RC16.
“One good improvement we’ve made in this test was setting stuff with the rear shock. We managed to get the bike a little bit more stable, which was cool,” he said.
Jorge Martin is on 92 points after four rounds and has a 17-point lead over second-place Francesco Bagnaia, whose factory Ducati team mate Enea Bastianini is a further five points behind in third. Acosta is fourth ahead of Aprilia's Maverick Vinales and six-time champion Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati).
The fifth race of this year's 21-round title chase takes place this weekend at the Bugatti circuit, a permanent race track located within the legendary 24 Hours circuit. Binder was sixth in last year's race, 13.6 seconds behind race winner Marco Bezzecchi.
Earlier this month it was announced that new MotoGP rules from 2027 will reduce the bikes' engine size from 1,000cc to 850cc and ban all ride-height and holeshot devices in a bid to limit performance and make races safer.
The new rules will also introduce tighter controls on aerodynamics to help create closer racing with more overtaking.
Bagnaia wins thrilling Spanish GP as Martin crashes out
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