Brad Binder Spanish MotoGP Sprint pace “not disgusting, just too slow”
Brad Binder feels he was “just too slow” in the Spanish MotoGP Sprint, finishing 11th.
Finishing 11th in the MotoGP Sprint was the result of “not disgusting” pace for Brad Binder, but the South African felt he was “just too slow”.
Binder hasn’t scored points in a Sprint since he finished eighth in Thailand, and in Saturday’s 12-lap race at Jerez he was 13 seconds off the win and the third-best KTM behind Maverick Vinales in seventh and Pedro Acosta in 10th.
The 2016 Moto3 World Champion, who won the 2022 edition of the MotoGP Sprint at Jerez, said that his Sprint performance fell below his expectations.
“I expected quite a lot more from the Sprint today,” said Binder, speaking to MotoGP.com after the Sprint.
“I felt like the conditions were quite a bit more tricky than especially what we had this morning; it was a lot more greasy out on-track and it made it a lot more tricky, for sure.
“I tried my best to manage all the situations out on-track, but it was really tricky.
“I felt like the pace wasn’t disgusting, I was quite consistent, but just too slow.
“So, we’ve definitely got to find a little bit of extra pace and let’s see what we can do before tomorrow.”
Binder’s Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate, the aforementioned Acosta, was only 0.6 seconds up the road having reverted to the 2024 specification RC16 for this weekend.
The Spanish rider crashed in FP2 at the final corner on Saturday morning, and was slowest of the 12 riders in Q2 before finishing 10th in the Sprint.
“It’s not easy when things don’t go how you expected or how you plan,” Acosta said.
“The way is to keep pushing, keep continuing to work and this will pull us up.
“Yesterday was not bad and this morning was okay for pace but when the conditions change then a lot of unexpected things happen.
“We need to understand how to find a way.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
