Brad Binder thought KTM’s second place finish ‘was a mistake'

Thanks to his second place finish at the MotoGP season-finale at Valencia, the Factory Red Bull KTM team got the better of Aprilia Racing by three points in the Team's standings, a result that left Brad Binder thinking it was a mistake.

Robert Jones

08 Dec 2022

Despite it being a tough season for the Austrian manufacturer, Binder was a key cog in taking KTM to second.

Miguel Oliveira provided KTM with their only wins from the 2022 season after winning wet races in Mandalika and Buriram, however, it was Binder who finished with a head-to-head record of 15-4 over the Portuguese rider.

Qualifying issues resulted in Binder having to fight his way through the pack on too many occasions this past season, even though it’s something he managed particularly well.

As highlighted by the final race of the season, Binder came from seventh on the grid to narrowly miss out on victory by half a second.

An unlikely result prior to the race getting underway, Binder and Oliveira’s attempts to overhaul Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales were aided significantly when both factory Aprilia riders failed to finish.

While the Lenovo Ducati pairing of Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller ran out winners by over 100 points in the Team’s championship, P2 for KTM showed that consistency was one of their biggest advantages over the rest of the teams.

Speaking about the achievement moments after last month’s Valencian Grand Prix, Binder said: "Yeah it’s really cool. When I heard that we finished second in the teams’ championship I thought it was a mistake.

"To be honest I wasn’t sure about it. It’s amazing that we managed that."

Part of Binder’s impressive performance was the new chassis provided by KTM for the final race, which he said addressed one of the key problems he faced throughout the season, that being grip on corner exit.

Binder added: "It’s been tricky to figure out this new chassis that they brought. It’s a lot more difficult to stop and the front moves a lot. But it clearly turns a little bit more and when I picked the bike up I had better grip.

"That’s something I was requesting this entire season and the guys brought it. It really touched on our issues so that was fantastic.

"It was so cool come the end of the race because I could change up my riding style and prepare the exit of the corners and take an advantage.

"Normally we would just start spinning and I wouldn’t go forward. Hats off to the guys for bringing me that chassis for the weekend."