BRAD BINDER STRUGGLES IN MISANO AFTER QUALIFYING 19TH AND FINISHING 11TH

Brad Binder’s Misano weekend proved difficult on multiple fronts, with KTM team-mate Pedro Acosta delivering strong results while Binder struggled to find pace. After qualifying only 19th, Binder crossed the line 14th in the MotoGP sprint. On Sunday’s Grand Prix, he finished 11th, a result shaped in part by the attrition ahead of him, but still reflecting a lack of speed over the full race distance.

In the closing laps, Binder battled for a potential top-10 finish with Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo, but could not make the pass. Binder admitted he never felt truly competitive from the start, saying: “I have from the beginning to the end tried my best. I was simply not fast enough.” He added that his pace improved after the halfway point: “In the second half my pace was a bit better. I was then a little closer. I tried everything to find extra speed. It was a tough weekend; I would have liked to be much more competitive here.”

When asked where the RC16 was most problematic, Binder was blunt. “To be honest, I didn’t have a single strength this weekend,” he said. He pointed specifically to time lost in the third sector: “In the third sector I lost a lot of time. In the race I was faster there, but I wasn’t fast enough. We have some work ahead of us.”

With the calendar moving quickly, Binder now looks to the Red Bull Ring in Austria. He noted that last year he scored 5th and 7th there, and believes the circuit better suits both his riding style and the bike: “Now comes Austria. That track suits me better, also our bike. I hope it will go better there.”