Brad Binder: Sand blown on track 'sketchy as hell!'

Brad Binder was one of just five riders to set a lap time during the final day of MotoGP pre-season testing in Qatar, as strong winds coated the track in sand and dust.

The factory KTM rider was officially credited with 11 Friday laps and fourth place on the timesheet, but apart from two laps the rest were recorded while riding "through the pitlane to do a start".

"A funny day today. It's a little bit unfortunate to have lost the whole day. The wind was quite hectic but more than that it was just the amount of sand that blows on the track," said the South African, who had been 16th and top KTM on day two.

"I tried to do a couple of laps and it was just a little bit too dodgy, too much risk for no reward, so we decided just to check over things the guys wanted to look at to make sure it's all ready for the race weekend and that was us all done."

Tech3 KTM's Danilo Petrucci kicks up the dust on his way to the fastest lap time on the final day of Qatar testing, +5sec off the best time at the test.

But what if the same track conditions occur during the season-opening weekend on March 26-28, could the race go ahead?

"To be honest I don’t know. It was weird because it gave you a false sense of it's actually quite okay. And then you look behind you [at all the dust] and it looks like you're riding on a motocross track!" Binder replied.

"You want to just tell yourself to go because you feel alright and the reality is the track is filthy. Even the colour, that was the weirdest thing for me, there were no black marks anymore because it literally just had like a layer on top that made the whole surface look dull.

"If that happened on race day, I'm not too sure what we would do, to be fair. I think we could race, no problem, I imagine. But it’s sketchy as hell! I think there would be quite a few guys that go down."

Qatar will also host the second round of the 2021 world championship on April 4.