Brad Binder trying to “figure out” KTM MotoGP: “You need be a lot more clean”

A change in bike character for KTM’s 2025 MotoGP bike has left Brad Binder trying to adapt to a new way of riding in his sixth season as a factory rider in the premier class.

The South African, who is without a win since the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix, is yet to finish on the podium in 2025, has a best result of only sixth this year, and after the Italian Grand Prix last weekend lies 13th in the riders’ standings as the third-best KTM rider – behind both Maverick Vinales in 11th and Pedro Acosta in eighth.

Binder says he felt like he had gone forwards at the Aragon MotoGP, where he qualified on the second row and was in the battle for the podium positions, just behind Acosta, before crashing out.

Mugello, though, was more difficult, and he struggled for most of the weekend to match the pace of both Acosta and Vinales, the latter battling for a top-five before crashing out after contact with Franco Morbidelli; while Acosta and Binder both finished at the back end of the top-10 in eighth and ninth, respectively.

“In Aragon it was really positive for us, Mugello was a little bit more tricky for sure,” Brad Binder said when speaking on MotoGP.com’s Gear Up preview show on Thursday at the Dutch TT.

“But all weekend you could see Maverick [Vinales] and Pedro [Acosta] were a good step ahead, so there’s definitely some good speed there.

“I need to figure out how to really get the best out of it for sure, definitely struggling a bit more with the front than [them].

“So, need to find the confidence to just get stuck in and hopefully it sticks.”

Binder added that adapting to this year’s KTM has been challenging, as it requires a more conservative approach than is natural for the 2016 Moto3 World Champion.

“It’s been a bit of a challenge,” the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider said.

“Definitely you need be a lot more clean, you need to not slide at all on the brakes, try to put the [lean] angle clean, especially on throttle don’t over-spin too much.

“You’ve got to kind of go really fast [but] not put in a lot of effort; normally when I go fast I put in too much effort, so it’s been tricky to figure out but I’m slowly feeling like we’re starting to find our feet.”