Today in Le Mans could hardly have been worse for Brad Binder, who, after failing to set any fast laps in qualifying, had to start from the back row. In the race, the problems continued, not with tire locking, which continued to prevent him from performing at his best on track.
‘The first morning session wasn’t too bad. Qualifying… I went to the pits for my first run and felt something was a bit off. Sometimes it happens and everything gets sorted out, but I tried to do a lap to see if it worked, tried to push, but it wasn’t possible, so I came back to the pits and the team tried to fix things, to make sure everything would be fine on the next bike. We made the change, left the pits, went straight for the first lap and yellow flag, so… yeah. Starting last wasn’t cool,’ the South African told the press.
He also explained what happened: ‘We had an electronic failure. Sometimes these things happen and unfortunately, it was bad timing’.
And he continues, saying that at least he learned more for this Sunday:
– I had the whole line to myself, which was quite nice, I suppose, but yeah… other than that, there’s not much to say. I had a good start, but I never had the pace to do anything after that. It was very difficult and the front tire lock was huge, the pressure was already very high by the third lap and it was very difficult to try to stay on track. It was tough, for sure, but the positive side is that we managed to understand a bit of what we need for tomorrow.’
At the start, Binder recovered eight positions, something he considers normal with his RC16, which is very strong at this specific moment: ‘My bike is a rocket at the start. I know that, regardless of the starting position, we almost have a guaranteed line if we make a good start. I managed to push it a bit, but other than that, there’s not much to say, to be honest: I had a good start and was expecting to continue, but yes, I always had moments. I went off track once, came back on, lost some positions, and the front kept locking. It’s important, when you’re 15th, not to do what I did yesterday and fall three times. I needed to bring the bike home and gather data to understand what to do for tomorrow’.
Given his starting position, a hectic day is expected: ‘Well, having the same start would be great and if we can be about three tenths faster it will be fun. Honestly, I felt like I could be a bit faster, but I couldn’t make any progress because I wasn’t braking well and wasn’t turning well, then, because of the stops, I wasn’t going well and, of course, we delayed picking up the bike, so you also can’t get a good ride, which leads to falling into this bad cycle’.
