Focussed until the last second. That’s how Brad Binder was this morning in Australia, not even admitting – in his mind – that the race could be cancelled so as not to be scattered.

The south african KTM rider spoke about his routine and how during his preparation today he didn’t think that the Sprint race might be cancelled, so he didn’t change his habits: ‘We race so often and you have your routine, and I can tell you that I am not a very nice person to be around from friday. You are so focused on what you got to do, in your priorities and stick to your same programme, and up until the race was cancelled you have the same preparation and don’t even think that it could possibly be because there’s just taking you away from where your focus needs to be’.

Yesterday the #33 was fourth in the main race, remember, while today in the Warm Up he was fifth.

O conteúdo Brad Binder was so focused that he didn’t even consider that today’s race could be cancelled: ‘I had the same preparation up to this point’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Brad Binder joined those riders who felt that cancelling today’s race was the right decision, while he was pleased to have had the opportunity to do the long race yesterday. The south african was also pleased with the RC16’s performance in the Warm Up, where conditions were already ‘on the limit’.

‘Well, there’s not much to say. It’s complicated, you building it upin the morning, you’re ready for action and when you put on your suit and start walking you see «cancelled»’ Binder began, before being happy with the decision to bring forward the weekend’s main race:

– I think it was definitely the right decision to do the main race yesterday considering that today was already expected to be sketchy. Already at the Warm Up things were a bit on the limit and with the way the wind was I think the guys [at Race Direction] certainly made the right decision, especially for safety reasons.

He was also happy with the way his bike performed: ‘Our bike worked well in wet conditions, the thing is that in the rain it can either be bloody good or bloody shit, we were lucky in the drawn today but I think it was working well for us. Considering when you watch Moto2 and how the guys were flingling it [by the wind], it’s not a place to be in the box. It’s a good day to be a journalist [laughs]’.

O conteúdo ‘In the Warm Up the bike worked well but in the rain it can either be bloody good or shit; Anticipating the race yesterday was good’ – Brad Binder aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

KTM showed excellent pace from the first day in Australia, with the riders of the official team and GasGas managing to occupy top positions on the timesheets early on. Today, in the morning, Brad Binder even managed to qualify in 2nd, in a qualifying dominated by Jorge Martin.

Already in the race, Binder would end up finishing in 4th position, after a huge fight in the final laps. Speaking after the race, the South African rider said he was somewhat disappointed to have the feeling that he could have done a little more:

– Today everything went very well until three laps from the end. I think I had a great qualifying, the best I’ve had in MotoGP, so I was happy to be on the front row. It’s really cool not to have anyone in front of you, you don’t get that very often. That was fantastic. As for the race I felt good, I was really trying to keep the tyre as much as possible. When I realised that Di Giannantonio could pass me, I started to defend too much, especially in the last sector, so when I started to follow him and realised how fast I could be without putting too much more effort on the tyre, I took a step again. I could see Jorge (Martin) coming back to us, so I was a bit excited and focused on that, I wasn’t necessarily thinking I had 4 riders behind me. Then when Zarco passed me, I lifted the bike a little and it was enough for them to pass me and then I couldn’t compose myself to pass someone until the end. So it was a bit tricky at the end, but 4th is 4th, it’s good points and a good finish, but I’m sorry for my team because we could have done a little bit more today.

Brad Binder also said that he was surprised by Jorge Martin’s pace on the soft tyre, and was pleased with the evolution of his KTM and the proximity to the Ducati:

– As soon as we got on the grid I saw the white line on (Martin’s) tyre and I realised that he had chosen the soft, so I knew it was going to be almost impossible to keep up with him at the start. I had to let him go. He kept up an insane pace until there were probably 10 laps to go. It was the first time I saw that it was stabilizing. He did an excellent job of keeping the tyre soft for such a long duration, because I think we were going to lose a lot sooner. Today I loved racing, especially in good conditions like today. We’ll see tomorrow. (…) I don’t think we’re too far away, we’re too close. For me, clearly at the end they had more grip than us (Ducati riders), even though I noticed that on my tyre all the time, they had something extra there. Anyway I think it was to be expected because we are always a bit more aggressive with the tyres than some of our opponents, so overall I think it was a positive day. Last year there was nothing left of the tyre and today I came to the most competitive finish.

O conteúdo ‘Today everything went very well until three laps from the end’ – Brad Binder aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

What a thrill, what suspense until the last second at Phillip Island with Johann Zarco finally winning in MotoGP! Since 2017 in the category, Zarco had a race in crescendo and in the end gave no margin to anyone to get to the front of the race on the last lap where he won. Jorge Martín looked like he was in a horror film after leading until literally the last lap where he didn’t even finish on the podium!

Everything is in place for the start of MotoGP’s main race, given the changes to the calendar announced on Friday. 18ºC at Phillip Island, last-minute tyre changes, and plenty of excitement for sure in the race.

Martín had the best start and stayed in front, but the highlight was the home rider, Jack Miller, who gained four positions in no time! On the following lap, however, the Australian began to lose positions and dropped to sixth, while Fabio Di Giannantonio made his way down… climbing to fourth after beating Francesco Bagnaia.

In just three laps Martín gained more than 1s on second, Brad Binder, but the question was: how would the #89’s soft rear tyre hold up?

Marc Márquez, meanwhile, overtook Miller and climbed to sixth position, and it wasn’t long before he was in the top five, beating Johann Zarco. The Frenchman responded shortly afterwards and retook fifth place, which worked in Bagnaia’s favour.

The fight was such that Márquez overtook again, but Zarco returned the manoeuvre. 0.487s separated the #5 from the #1. Martín led by 1.668s over Binder, who was slightly faster than the Prima Pramac Racing rider for the moment.

Meanwhile, Pramac sent a message, literally, to Martín: “Breathe”, reminiscent of what happened last week when the rider crashed while 3s ahead of second. However… Martín didn’t slow down and continued to set a frantic pace and after nine laps he was already 2.391s ahead of Binder.

Joan Mir crashed at turn 4 after battling with Luca Marini on lap 10. The Spaniard nevertheless picked up his motorbike and returned to the race, but… only for a short time. The Repsol Honda rider abandoned shortly afterwards.

That was the top ten with 13 laps completed:

The next to “taste” the asphalt was Augusto Fernández who, with 12 laps to go, ended his race after crashing.

Martín was still very strong in the lead and 3.461s ahead of Binder, with Di Giannantonio 3.625s behind the #89. Bagnaia was 1.032s behind the fourth-placed rider and Zarco remained fifth.

At any moment it was expected that DiGia would overtake Binder, 0.045s away but with the gap constantly changing. Both riders had the same tyre selection. With nine laps to go, the overtake was confirmed and DiGia, still without a place on the grid for 2024, was second!

The race was entering a decisive phase and already inside the last straight and Martín was a figurehead as he led with a gap of 3.125s over DiGia. However, out of nowhere, Martín saw the #49 gain 0.4s on him and anything could still happen.

Bagnaia’s life was complicated as he was overtaken by Zarco and dropped to fifth place.

This was the top ten: Martín, DiGia, Binder, Zarco, Bagnaia, Álex Márquez, Aleix Espargaró, Jack Miller, Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Márquez.

Binder still had something up his sleeve and moved into second place. 0.8s separated fifth from second.

With three laps to go Martín was losing considerable time and “only” 1.649s separated Binder from the lead, at a time when Zarco was moving up to third!

With two laps to go, Zarco saw the light at the end of the tunnel and climbed to second place, with Martín 0.955s behind. Bagnaia, meanwhile, was also giving it his all and was third.

On the last lap Martín had… 0.4s on Zarco and the Frenchman, with his pace… moved into the lead! And not only that! Bagnaia also passed the Spaniard and was soon in third.

Martín lost positions again and in one lap he went from first to fifth, with Brad Binder also overtaking him!

And victory! Finally Johann Zarco could win in MotoGP seven years after joining the category! Di Giannantonio finished on the podium.

O conteúdo Seven years later, here it is: Johann Zarco makes his MotoGP winning debut! Martín went from heaven to hell; Di Giannantonio on the podium aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Brad Binder achieved his best qualifying result to date in the category at Phillip Island today and he didn’t hide his happiness at this achievement. Looking ahead, the KTM rider believes the race will be a tough one, one of survival.

‘My bike is working incredibly well, especially with the qualifying rubber. Hats off to my team for preparing this so well for us,’ said the South African to the MotoGP microphones, before giving a brief preview of what he expects the main race, which takes place today, to be like:

– It’s fantastic to be in second position, my best qualifying position in MotoGP. I think today is going to be a survival race as far as tyres are concerned, and I think it’s going to be tough until the end.

O conteúdo ‘It’s awesome to be second, it’s my best qualifying; I think it’s going to be a survival race’ – Brad Binder aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Jorge Martín is unstoppable! The Spaniard showed that the crash he suffered last week hasn’t shaken his confidence and today at Phillip Island he confirmed another pole position, and with a record-breaking lap.

Martín started Q2 with a «message» for everyone else: on his second lap and his first in attack mode, the Spaniard set the fastest time of the weekend so far. The Spaniard entered Q2 with a time of 1:27.869s.

And… Martín didn’t stop there and improved his time once again, shaving 0.023s off his time to pull away from Brad Binder, second, who was 0.236s behind. Francesco Bagnaia was third at 0.425s.

With eight minutes to go, the riders headed to their teams’ garage and were ready for the final attacks. The clock was just over four minutes when most of the riders returned to the track.

Bagnaia was trying to get round Marc Márquez, but he was trailing behind the Italian and every tactic was being used to try and get the best place on the starting grid.

And with the first laps on the attack after the comeback Martín, who else, made history again and improved his own record: 1:27.246s. The #89 was the fastest ever (so far) in Australia!

Binder, very fast, was second at… 0.416s. Bagnaia was third and Aleix Espargaró fourth, with Johann Zarco fifth and Fabio Di Giannantonio sixth.

O conteúdo Jorge ‘Record Breaker’ Martín continues to make history at Phillip Island and takes MotoGP pole position aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

After a positive day, Brad Binder feels confident and is very competitive to face his rivals in the Australian GP. The South African was the fastest rider on Friday and wants to keep up the good pace.

Asked how he’s handling the circuit’s last corner, which has caused some difficulties for all the drivers on the grid, Binder replied: ‘I’ve been handling the last corner the same way as everyone else, there’s just a slight bounce, but nothing crazy. Tomorrow I have a good idea of what our day will be like, we just have to adapt to riding at this pace and survive more laps.

Brad Binder sits 4th in the MotoGP world championship, 135 points behind the leader Francesco Bagnaia. However, the South African rider can still claim a top-three finish in the championship standings as he is only 72 points behind third-placed Marco Bezzecchi of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team.

O conteúdo ‘We just have to adapt to riding at this pace and survive more laps’ – Brad Binder aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Brad Binder was the standout man on the first day of the MotoGP Australian GP. In the second practice session, he set the pace for the day by being the only one to lap in the 1m27s (1m27.943s).

The Red Bull KTM rider finished ahead of his teammate Jack Miller and didn’t hide his satisfaction with this Friday: ‘Today was really a good day; from the first exit this morning the bike worked really well and I was quite happy with it from the beginning. This afternoon when we put the tyres it felt really good. And I don’t have too much to say; quite a good day, the most important is to go through to Q2 tomorrow. And let’s give the same tomorrow and see how we end up’.

Despite feeling somewhat apprehensive considering last year’s poor performance, Binder was early on convinced that this time would be different, for the better: ‘I was a bit worried coming here to be honest, because last year it was really though. But from the first lap this morning I realised that we are in another league compared to the last year and the bike is working great’.

O conteúdo ‘Since the first lap I realised thate we’re in another league compared to 2022’ – Brad Binder aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Last season the Australia GP wasn’t exactly the best for Brad Binder, with the rider finishing the race in 14th place. The south african didn’t forget such result and is set to change it this season, looking forward to return to the good results he had in other years.

‘This weekend it’s always exciting to be back on Island, it is a really cool place in general and I love coming here. In general is it a cool place but the track is always awesome and is a place that has been good to me in the past, except for last year. Last year was extremely tough’, KTM rider on his preview, before saying what his wish is, and showing to be happy with the weather forecast:

– I bet on changing that and going back to other years. In general everything is being quite good. It seems we will have solid weather up until sunday so best if we enjoy it all weekend and see what happens. There isn’t much to say.

O conteúdo Brad Binder doesn’t forget «poor» performance in 2022 and hopes to return to ‘other years’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.

Miguel Oliveira’s race at the MotoGP Indonesian GP was compromised by a collision with Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) when he was running in eighth place. The CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team rider went off the track after the contact and dropped down the standings, managing to recover only to 12th. Meanwhile, the South African rider received his second penalty in the race.

The Portuguese rider said that without the incident he could have finished in the top ten: ‘The race anyway, I made a wrong rear tyre choice, but still I think I could have a top ten result. I just got a little help by Brad to go into the gravel, but that’s it. I think he got a penalty for it’.

Despite believing the rules were followed, Oliveira suggested a penalty system similar to the double yellow card in football: ‘I think the FIM stewards followed the protocol for sure, but I think if you get the same penalty twice during the race you should have a little bit stronger penalties, because it pays off somehow. It would be like the second yellow card in a football match: you get a red one and you are out. Probably there are something that can be improved in protocol. Anyway, it shouldn’t happen during the race that you get a penalty for doing such a manouver, but still in extreme cases like Sunday in Indonesia it could be not too bad to think about it’.

O conteúdo Miguel Oliveira suggests penalties similar to the ‘second yellow card in football’ aparece primeiro em Motorcycle Sports.