Brad in good form with another podium finish at Austrian MotoGP
It's the halfway stage of this year's MotoGP and local Brad Binder is slowly but surely climbing the championship ladder and currently in fourth place.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing gave their home fans a memorable day at a sun-splashed CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich in Austria as Krugersdorp’s Brad Binder took his KTM RC16 to runner-up status at a stacked Red Bull Ring.
Teammate Jack Miller classified 15th as 2023 MotoGP arrived at the halfway point of the season and KTM toasted their 100th win in Moto3.
The KTM Factory Racing team revealed in its official newsletter that as is now the custom, both Binder and Miller surged into the leading positions from the start.
Miller fought for a top-five slot but started to suffer with rear traction and drifted back into the clutches of his pursuers. Binder rallied hard behind leader Francesco Bagnaia and kept close to the Italian for almost half the race. When the local and South African also started to lose rear grip he had to concede seconds but rode securely to bank his second Prosecco spray of the weekend, third of the season, equal his personal best of 2023 to date and pulled to within 23 points of the top three in the championship standings. Miller made the line in 15th.
Red Bull KTM is ranked fourth in the teams table and the company is the second-best manufacturer.
MotoGP’s next appointment will swing the series around the popular Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on September 1 to 3 for the second visit to the Spanish mainland this year. The race will be followed hard the following week by the San Marino Grand Prix.
Post-race Brad said, “I knew that we were looking for drive grip but I did everything I could; protect where I could and push where I could on the brakes. I tried to keep him [Bagnaia] honest in the first half of the race but there was a moment where the rear grip just said ‘goodbye…’ and I knew I had to be clever and just bring the bike home. The team made another huge step from qualifying the day before to race day and I could brake so much later and so much harder. We still have a bit of work to do but I cannot thank them enough. It is awesome to be on the podium twice here in Austria and at their home Grand Prix.”
