Brad Binder of Krugersdorp’s good run of scoring points in all previous four rounds of the 2022 MotoGP™ came to an end at the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal over the weekend (race day was April 24).
According to the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team’s official newsletter, Brad charged through the pack to eye the top ten but crashed at mid-race.
His teammate Miguel Oliveira, however, shone for KTM at the first European round of the season in front of an eager and expectant crowd surrounding the circuit close to the coastal town of Portimao.
The fourth Grand Prix at the undulating course was run in the dry after two days of a wet and stormy climate and with two RC16s blasting from the fourth row of the grid. Miguel charged into contention for the top six and was circulating just adrift of the lead group. The Portuguese benefited from the unexpected crash between Joan Mir and Jack Miller, and steered his way to fifth for 11 points. The classification pulls him up to eighth in the championship standings, right behind his teammate.
Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM team manager said, “A little bit of a shame. We had two days with rain with Miguel always on top but then straight to a dry race with only warm-up to prepare. Anyway, we go home with a fifth position, which is not the worst result but we had a podium in the back of our mind today. The fight is very tight and there were six manufacturers in the top six places.
Brad didn’t get the best start and wasn’t in the best condition for overtaking. There was a lot of traffic and he lost the front when he was coming back.
Generally, the bike handled well considering the 20 minutes of dry track time we had. I’m pleased that Remy also took some points and it was unfortunate that Raul was out due to injury. Now we look ahead to Jerez and, of course, the post-race test which will be crucial. We hope to have all four of our KTM riders in the saddle there.”
Brad added, “It was nice to wake up to sunshine and have a dry track to race on. Warm-up went reasonably well and I noticed a few things with the set-up but we didn’t really have time to work on it. I was battling in the race and fighting to get the bike stopped when I was behind people but started to find my groove. I was pushing on but unfortunately got sucked into one of the corners too much and tucked the front.
Sorry to the team for messing up. This happens. We’ll move on, and Jerez is normally a great track for us.”
The next and sixth round of the 2022 MotoGP™ season will take place at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto in Spain on Sunday, May 1.
