While Maverick Viñales shone, Brad Binder struggled at the MotoGP Qatar GP, finishing 13th – despite both riding the same bike, the KTM RC16.
The South African from Red Bull KTM explained that he couldn’t find any solutions that allowed him to be competitive, with some problem always getting in the way:
– Definitely the most difficult MotoGP weekend I’ve had in my career so far. No matter what we tried, I never felt comfortable. I felt like if I didn’t have massive chatter, I was washing the front. And if I wasn’t washing the front, I felt like I was spinning like hell. So, I really didn’t feel good at all and I struggled a lot. We tried a lot of different things, but nothing really hit the point.
After a tough round in Losail, Binder is now looking ahead to the next one: ‘For some reason, from the first lap here I just felt like I had absolutely no rear grip and we didn’t really find anything to make it feel normal. But anyway, it is what it is. I’m looking forward to try again in Jerez’.
Will the solution come from making changes to the bike? The #33 commented: ‘To be honest, I just need to be able to ride the bike a little bit. I feel I have to do everything super gently, and it’s the complete opposite way I do things. So, it’s really been tricky for me. But anyway, I think this weekend in general was a tough one – no other way to describe it. And I think we’ll reset and try again in Jerez’.