PADDOCK INSIDERS LAMENT BRAD BINDER’S MOVE TO WORLD SUPERBIKES

Brad Binder’s move to World Superbikes will end a seven-season run in MotoGP, and the news has left some people in the paddock disappointed, according to TNT Sports commentator Gavin Emmett.

KTM confirmed in July that Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio would form a new line-up for 2027, while Binder’s teammate Pedro Acosta is heading to Ducati. In September, BMW announced Binder as a WorldSBK rider. He joins fellow MotoGP veterans Jack Miller and Franco Morbidelli in making the switch as the grid undergoes a generational change.

Binder’s departure comes after a difficult period alongside Acosta. The Spaniard has claimed all 11 of KTM’s factory-team podiums during their partnership and scored 541 of the team’s 790 points. Binder, a two-time Grand Prix winner with 129 race starts, was not offered a place elsewhere on the MotoGP grid. A move to Tech3 was also unavailable, with team boss Guenther Steiner bringing in Luca Marini and Senna Agius.

Yet Binder’s sixth place at KTM’s home race in Austria, his best result of the season, offered a reminder of his potential. Emmett suggested the result may have been helped by Michelin’s reinforced rear tyre casing, used at only a handful of events. Binder has struggled with the standard rear tyre introduced in 2023, while the special casing is also due to return in Indonesia.

“There are those of us in the paddock who are extremely disappointed to be losing Brad Binder,” Emmett said during the Spielberg race. “I understand it, I get it. He hasn’t performed quite how he should have done, but look at this, with a different tyre on, how the tables have turned for him.”

He added: “He can’t get on with the current Michelins, except when we’ve got this reinforced casing that we have here this weekend in Austria and we’ll get in Indonesia later on in the year as well.”

Acosta’s victory in Austria also showed that KTM’s RC16 could compete at the front. Some believe the 2027 bikes might have suited Binder better, but that possibility will remain untested unless he makes a future wildcard or substitute appearance.