Brad Binder's KTM damaged: Raul Fernandez “sent me to wave to the fans!”

Brad Binder’s hopes of backing up his best result of the season in the Austrian Sprint ended when contact with Raul Fernandez damaged his KTM’s aero package in Sunday’s grand prix.

The South African had climbed from eleventh on the grid to fifth in the early stages, but a firm last-corner move by Trackhouse Aprilia’s Fernandez forced him wide and dropped him back to ninth.

Binder also lost a wing in the process, leaving him struggling with wheelies and instability.

“It could have been much, much, much better today,” Binder said. “I didn't get a good start at all, I was back where I started in the first few corners.

“But I had a pretty good first few laps, got up into fifth, and then Fernandez sent me to have to wave to the fans in the last corner!

“I lost a good couple of seconds there at least, and I lost my wing in the process. So when I went into turn 1, had no chance of stopping at my marker, so I went straight again.

“It was tough from then on because at this track without the wings, the thing was wheelieing like hell and wobbling.”

Despite the damage, Binder recovered to battle with Joan Mir’s Honda and Francesco Bagnaia’s factory Ducati, eventually finishing seventh, between the former world champions, and set a pace close to those on the podium during the closing laps:

“It was really, really a long race,” Binder continued. “But I felt like I put up a good fight, tried my best. I felt like I had a lot more potential today but seventh was all it could really come to.”

Team-mate Pedro Acosta was again the lead KTM rider in fourth, just under four seconds ahead of Binder, while Tech3’s Enea Bastianini crossed the line 1.5s ahead in fifth.

Binder is eleventh in the MotoGP world championship standings heading into next weekend’s Hungarian round.