Brad Binder, British MotoGP, 4 August 2023
Brad Binder reckons he could find it tough to beat Friday pace setter Aleix Espargaro should it remain dry at Silverstone on Saturday, the KTM man conceding his lap was “incredible.”
The South African showed encouraging pace throughout the day to end up third quickest and just a fraction behind Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin, though his best effort was a distant 0.715s adrift of runaway leader Espargaro.
Having been left overall happy with the progress he had made during the two practice outings that took place across Friday, Binder accepted that he only had “a couple of tenths in the pocket” and that Espargaro had managed to craft together an “incredible lap.”
“Today was solid, can’t really complain as I went out this morning and did longer runs on the harder tyre which was cool, it was nice to shake off the rust from the mid season,” explained Binder.
“The guys did a great job this afternoon, we made some quite big changes with the traction control and engine braking in a lot of places and everything was much better than the first run.
“I felt good, each run I went out and improved so to finish in the top three is fantastic and it’s great to transition straight through to Q2 and we’ll try and make it a really solid Saturday.
“I honestly felt quite OK, I think I’ve got a couple tenths in the pocket – maybe not 0.6 (deficit to Espargaro) – he did an incredible lap for sure.”
With wet weather forecast for Saturday at Silverstone, Binder felt he had a good chance of remaining towards the peak of the timesheets due to him not minding the wet conditions, as well as his KTM working “extremely well” in the wet.
“I think we can do a good job tomorrow, we just need to see what the weather does,” continued the three-time premier class race victor.
“I don’t mind the wet anymore, I used to hate it but for sure it could mix things up a bit and the last few times I’ve been quite comfortable in those conditions and our bike seems to work extremely well in those conditions.”
Keyword: Binder: ‘Espargaro did an incredible lap’