KTM's Brad Binder hopes his second-place finish at last weekend's MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix will be "a signal of things to come" for Mark Austria.
Last weekend, Brad Binder came for the first time in the front row after securing the third position in the Japanese Grand Prix. Leading the first lap before dropping to third place, Binder overtook Pramac Ducati's Jorge Martin in the closing stages to take second place and equal his best result of the 2022 season.
He raced for the first time since the opening night of the campaign in Qatar, with KTM struggling for consistency in form until 2022 - although Binder sits sixth in the standings with 42 points to spare. The top KTM follows his teammate Miguel Oliveira.
KTM is dealing with Ducate for its technical team for several key figures. They are also using their Red Bull ties to develop their aerodynamics at the Formula 1 team’s base from 2023. In this situation, Binder hopes his Motegi weekend will serve as a launching pad for more incredible things.
After qualifying for the first time in 2022 before Motegi, he jokingly said that he felt nice to start on the front row and go into Turn 1.
He is happy with the way the weekend turned out. At the initial stage, he felt like he was short of quality laps in the dry. He figured out things and his markers after the first ten to fifteen laps.
At the beginning of the race, he made a few mistakes as he did not know if he was well-versed in the hard tire situation. He fought and pushed away with it and eventually walked away with second place. He can’t complain that he had champagne in his hand for the first time. Hence, this is a sign of the things to come.
Binder risked racing on the hard tire, though he did not try at all during the weekend before the race. However, he gave credit to his team for the decision. He said that he had never attempted the hard tire before. His faith in his team and the people doing all the homework concerning the tire made him push forward during the race.