Binder
Photo Cred: Redbull

Binder races to second place in Valencia and played a pivotal role in KTM’s second-place win of the MotoGP championship with 337 points.

 

Valencia, Spain(07 November 2022) – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing bookended a long MotoGP season by watching Brad Binder capture his third podium result of 2022 in Valencia and finish the year with 6th position in the final standings with his KTM RC16. Teammate Miguel Oliveira signed off his KTM tenure with 5th place at the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana.

The compact and curling Circuito Ricardo Tormo near Valencia in eastern Spain was an ideal stage for the final date on the 2022 MotoGP calendar: bright sunshine, decent autumnal temperatures and a mass of 92,000 fans and spectators created a vibrant atmosphere for round twenty of twenty.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing were competing at a venue that held significance in their short but bright MotoGP story so far. Valencia was the site of their very first outing in the premier class in 2016 and the scene of their first podium finish in 2018. Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira showed competitive one-lap speed and decent race pace respectively through practice and qualification: the South African starting from the top of the third row in 7th while the Portuguese was 14th.

MotoGP rattled through 27 laps where the first seven riders were split by eight seconds and five retired from the running. Tire conservation and careful overtaking were essential ingredients among a field with a lot of parity with race times and Binder expertly moved from the depths of the top ten to split the tussle for the podium. The South African was brilliant as he passed Fabio Quartararo, Jack Miller and then Jorge Martin to reach 2nd place and then just run out of time to catch winner Alex Rins. The gap was less than four tenths of a second at the finish line and meant that Binder ends 2022 as he begun – on the second step of the rostrum.

With 337 points, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing have ranked 2nd from the 12 teams in the MotoGP championship.

“We started 2022 on the podium and now we finish up there but I think this one was better than Qatar! He was close to winning the race but it was an incredible run and so nice to see him so motivated right until the end. It is a good sign and a good starting point for the 2023 test on Tuesday. This great result gives us – and everyone in the factory – a boost and includes Miguel as well; to finish P5 from the fifth row was a great recovery. 2nd in the Teams Championship is an indication that we are doing something in the right way. The year has finished but it feels like Qatar was yesterday! We are ready to step into 2023. Let’s keep going and aim for another step next season.” – Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Team Manager

The MotoGP paddock will barely pause for respite as 2023 spec machinery and ideas for next season will be prepped on Monday for the first ‘pre-season’ test at Valencia on Tuesday. The 74th year of world championship racing begins with the Grand Prix of Portugal at the Algarve International Circuit on March 24th-26th 2023.

Brad Binder shared his thoughts on his podium spot as well as his hopes for the season to come.

“Really happy to be back on the podium. This weekend I came with the mindset I had to win and it didn’t quite work out but Alex [Rins] rode really well today. I have to take my hat off to the team, I have the most amazing crew behind me. There are some crazy and incredible people at KTM. We’ve had some great times this season and some really hard times too but we have always managed to give our absolute best come race day. It’s good to be top six in the championship, for sure, and to get the team up to 2nd in the standings as well. We made a step this weekend because I had been requesting some more drive grip and the guys brought it for this race. I really hope for the 2023 season we can find that last little bit to be competitive every weekend. We fought hard today and made some moves. Let’s see what Tuesday brings us.” – Brad Binder

Big boss Pit Beirer the KTM Motorsports Director called Binder’s performance exciring and is proud of the work being done by the team. The 2023 season is set to be an impressive one!

“Such an exciting performance by the boys today and especially Brad to work his way forward like he did. We managed to bring something new for him for Valencia and from what we saw the first signs are very positive; it is a good step, right before our first important test for 2023. Miguel also never gave up and we’ve been so used to this excellent attitude. We’ll miss it. Finishing 2nd in the Teams Championship after a very long season and with so much effort from all the guys in the box and back in the factory shows what a strong crew we have for our MotoGP project and I speak for the whole company when I say we are very proud.”


Sources: RedBull – Supplied
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