BRAD BINDER SAYS HE COST HIMSELF POSITIONS IN ARAGON AFTER LATE RECOVERY TO 10TH

Brad Binder’s Aragón Grand Prix ended with a hard-earned tenth place for KTM, but the South African admitted the result was shaped by mistakes he made early on. Starting from 14th, Binder got away well and moved into the top 12 during the opening lap. However, his race quickly turned complicated: in Turn 12 he ran wide with his RC16, and another error followed in the final corner. By the end of the second lap, he had dropped to 20th.

Binder refused to lose momentum and began a steady recovery over the full 23-lap race. His progress was gradual rather than instant, but it added up—he climbed back through the field until he crossed the line in tenth, taking six points.

Speaking after the race, Binder was blunt about what went wrong. “I made it difficult for myself today. My rear tyre pressure was too low. Then when I braked into Turn 11, I lost the rear and missed the entry into Turn 12,” he said. He also described how the late-race traffic and position changes affected his rhythm: “In the last corner I got passed by someone, and then that guy got passed by another one. I had to go wide, and in the next lap I saw I had dropped back to 20th. At that point I knew I still had a lot of work to do. I worked my way back to tenth, so I can’t complain too much.”

Binder’s recovery was therefore not only about speed, but also about managing the consequences of early instability and the knock-on effects of being overtaken and forced to adjust his line. Despite the setbacks, he felt the performance trend was moving in the right direction.

“It was a solid comeback, but I still need to work on some things. It’s a learning process. I feel like we’re making progress,” Binder said. He added that further gains could translate into a bigger step forward: “If we can get a bit more speed out of it, we’ll make a jump forward.”

With Aragón points secured, Binder’s position in the championship sits ahead of the final nine events of the season, on 78 points and in 13th place, according to the report.