Brad Binder finished the Sprint race in second position and proved to be on par with Jorge Martín for tomorrow. The South African rider was very consistent throughout the race and showed that the KTM is ready to compete with the Ducati bikes throughout the season.
In his debrief, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider spoke about the race and the demands of maintaining a strong pace throughout the Sprint:
– ‘I had a fantastic start, I almost took the Holeshot, which was incredible. It was great to be back racing for real after so many tests. We just have to concentrate on finding more grip and I think we’re on the right track. Jorge is using the rear tire very well to get out of the corners and I didn’t have the same grip as him. I feel that my bike is doing a lot of things much better than last year’s, so we’re very happy with that.
Asked about the difficulties he began to have with grip on the rear tire, Binder replied:
– ‘For me it was important our cornering speed which was incredible, but we have to find ways to improve the grip a bit. We have to adjust a little for tomorrow, but I’m confident that we can do better during the race tomorrow. This year I just want to win, but clearly today we fell short, but tomorrow we’ll try to find what we need to do better’.