Winners Brad Binder (KTM, South Africa) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, Italy) seen during the MotoGP World Championship in Spielberg, Austria on August 20, 2023. // Joerg Mitter / Red Bull Ring // SI202308200567 // Usage for editorial use only //
Brad Binder admitted that he had to “be clever” in the closing stages of the Austrian Grand Prix after he nearly crashed on several occasions trying to chase Francesco Bagnaia.
The factory KTM rider enjoyed a strong weekend at the Austrian manufacturers home event having qualified second before finishing in the same spot in Saturday’s half-distance sprint race to Ducati pilot Bagnaia, the South African confident he would have something for the Italian in Sunday’s full-length grand prix.
Despite KTM having solved some braking-related difficulties Binder struggled with in the sprint ahead of the Austrian GP, Bagnaia ultimately looked to be in even more control as he cruised on to a commanding victory to the tune of over five seconds – Binder rueing a lack of drive from the Red Bull Ring’s slower turns as the chief reason for his deficit to Bagnaia.
He also conceded that he had to back off from the middling stages of the contest onwards after locking his front wheel on several occasions, Binder explaining that he was having to make up all the time he was losing on corner exits in the braking zones.
“The team did a great job to give me much more braking performance today compared to yesterday (sprint), we were working until late last night to put the little details together so I owe them a massive thanks,” said Binder.
“I tried my best to give everything I had to catch Pecco (Bagnaia) at the beginning, but from lap five or six I began to realise he was really looking after his rear tyre and I might run into a bit of bother at the end.
“Everytime I would lose on the initial drive from the corner I would try and make up on the brakes and just have these huge locks, and I got to the point where I lost the front three times in one lap and just said to myself ‘be clever here, or you won’t finish.’
“So I just tried to calm down a bit and try to make the rear tyre go to the end as we knew coming here from the sprint race that that would be the main challenge.”
Having now moved himself up to fourth in the riders standings at the mid-point of the 2023 MotoGP term – the highest non-Ducati rider in the points – Binder added that that he is “100% happy” with his solid haul of points from the Austrian weekend, and is looking forward to making further progress towards a maiden win of the year next time out in Barcelona.
“I came into this weekend wanting a lot as always, but to leave here with two second places I think we 100% need to be happy,” continued Binder.
“Today was a carbon copy of the sprint race, the same lap and same corner and could see I wasn’t going forward and could see the gap creeping up (to Bagnaia.)
“Nevertheless I managed to hold things pretty close when (the tyre) dropped towards the end, so I’m quite satisfied with that and can’t complain with a pair of seconds so we’ll see what happens next time.”
Keyword: Binder had to ‘be clever’ in Austrian Bagnaia pursuit