Binder muscling his way into title contention after a sizzling weekend in Spain

Brad Binder (number 33) led for most of the race from teammate Jack Miller and Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia at the Spanish MotoGP at Jerez. Bagnaia took the lead with three laps to go and held on. (Photo by Steve Wobser/Getty Images)

By Craig Ray and Reuters

1 May 2023

Brad Binder predicted that the pace of his Red Bull KTM bike was improving each race, and it showed in Spain where he just missed out on an historic double.

South Africa’s Brad Binder sizzled all weekend at the Spanish MotoGP to win Saturday’s sprint race and finish second in Sunday’s main Grand Prix. He also qualified fourth for the race – his best qualifying of the season.

Binder told Daily Maverick last week that he felt his Red Bull KTM “was working really well”.

“We definitely struggled a lot more than we had planned, but each weekend we’ve made small steps forward and all these small changes that we had made have really made a big difference,” Binder told Daily Maverick.

“We’ve changed four or five small areas of the bike, which have given us so much more speed over the lap – for example, in America, we were more than a second and a half quicker than we were the previous season.”

His pre-race assessment was spot on as Binder produced his best one-lap performance of the season in qualifying, and then backed it up with a stunning sprint race win on Saturday, and a superb second in the main GP on Sunday.

Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia passed Brad Binder three laps from the end to win the Spanish MotoGP at Jerez. (Photo: Steve Wobser/Getty Images)

Bagnaia reclaimed top spot on standings

His pace in the main race was just not enough to hold off Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia. The reigning world champion finished about a bike length ahead of the hard-charging Binder to reclaim top spot on the standings after four rounds of the 2023 season.

Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi conceded his place to Bagnaia in the standings when he crashed with seven laps to go, while Binder also moved up three places to third in the table.

Bagnaia has a 22-point lead over Bezzecchi after four rounds, while Binder is a further three points behind. Binder’s teammate Jack Miller finished third to move up to fourth in the riders standings.

The two KTMs had a superb start as Saturday’s sprint winner Binder and Miller led into turn one, but the race was red-flagged after Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and RNF Racing’s Miguel Oliveira crashed on the opening lap.

Oliveira was declared unfit to resume after dislocating his shoulder, marking the second time this season he was forced to abandon the race after Marc Marquez crashed into him in Portugal last month.

It was deja vu on the restart as the KTMs surged into the front with Binder making up three places by turn one, to take the lead with Miller and Bagnaia behind him.

Bagnaia and Miller were involved in some aggressive racing with the Italian forced to drop a position by race control, after moving up to second when he nearly took out the KTM rider on an overtake that left the Australian fuming despite an apology.

A mistake from Miller opened the door for Bagnaia and the world champion charged after Binder with nine laps to go, setting the fastest lap as he looked to reel in the South African.

Bagnaia’s determination reaped dividends when he finally got past Binder with three laps to go and although the KTM rider threw everything at him and closed the gap on the turns, the Ducati rider held him off to take the chequered flag.

Sprint success

Binder won his second sprint race of the MotoGP season (after winning the sprint in Argentina) when he stunned his teammate Miller with an audacious overtake on the penultimate lap to take victory at the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday.

The sprint was initially red-flagged in the opening lap when Bezzecchi, Franco Morbidelli and Alex Marquez were involved in a triple crash at turn two, with championship leader Bezzecchi flung off his bike and into the gravel.

The sprint was restarted with original grid positions for 11 laps with all riders eligible for the restart, and Binder rocketed off the line to take the lead heading into turn one.

“Today was a tough one with the red flag at the beginning, so I made sure I got a better start the second time around,” Binder said.

“I went straight to the front, but just had to take it a bit easy to try and bring the tyres up. They felt a little bit sketchy.”

While Binder surged ahead, the battle for second initially had Jorge Martin, Miller, Bagnaia and Aleix Espargaro fighting it out. But Marquez crashed once again, while pole sitter Espargaro took a tumble on his Aprilia with six laps to go.

It was the KTMs and Ducati’s Bagnaia who fought for podium places, with the Ducati eventually splitting the two KTM riders after Binder nearly lost his front tyre while overtaking Miller on turn six.

“As I started to get comfortable, I tried to stay super close to Jack. He had a great pace and... to be able to fight till the end, push it through and come out with the wind is incredible,” Binder added.

“Massive thank you to my team. It’s fantastic to have both of us up on the podium. They've been working so incredibly hard and it’s paying off, so I can’t tell them how much I appreciate it.” DM

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Bagnaia reclaimed top spot on standings

Sprint success