Difficult weekend for Brad Binder at French MotoGP

South African MotoGP rider Brad Binder did not finish the French MotoGP after he crashed the RC16 at turn 14 at the Bugatti Circuit. 

Red Bull KTM Racing confirmed that he was okay after the crash, but his Championship fight slipped further and further away from him. 

Binder’s teammate Pedro Acosta took home a superbly raced P4 for the team, their highest of the season so far, and some valuable points towards the team championship. 

Italian racer Johann Zarco stunned the MotoGP world to pull off an incredible victory at home, robbing team Ducati of the opportunity to rewrite history. 

But while Ducati leads the way, Red Bull and Binder have yet to find their way this season. 

The South African started Sunday’s main race from P13 and did well to fight up the pack to sixth position before crashing out. Both Red Bull drivers have found a quicker pace from what they first started the season with, which could be owed to improvements on the RC set up. 

The Potchefstroom-born racer made the best of his situation, even with the wet weather on Sunday making conditions even more difficult. 

The intensity of the rain had increased by the time the race was about to begin, causing all riders to pit at the end of the original warm-up lap, delaying the start. Binder was one of the 13 riders to get back onto the dry bikes for the race, but had to serve a double long lap as a penalty. 

The team’s financial woes have added a layer of difficulty for them to compete against highly funded teams like Ducati and Yamaha, regardless, Binder and Acosta have made the most of their position and have been putting up a decent fight. 

It wasn’t the first crash Binder experienced this weekend, which seemed to be tainted with a bit of bad luck. Binder crashed during the time attack session on Friday and crashed four laps into the French Sprint. 

“One of the strangest crashes I’ve had… front locked up straight and that was that. Otherwise I felt good all day, just didn’t come together. We will go again tomorrow. Plan is to get off the line clean and try to make something of it,” Binder said. 

As far as points go, Binder dropped down to 14th on the rider standings with his 32 points, while Acosta jumped to 9th place after his stellar ride on Sunday. 

He will now look to Silverstone in two weeks for the British MotoGP and hopefully get back to the top of the pack where he feels comfortable.