Red Bull KTM rider Brad Binder was chuffed with his RC16's performance during Monday's official MotoGP testing at Misano. Picture: Getty Images
Red Bul KTM believes they are on the right track to close the gap on MotoGP’s high-flying Ducatis.
The Austrian outfit was upbeat on Monday’s official one-day testing at Misano. Both its riders, Brad Binder (third) and Jack Miller (fifth), posted lap times ranking in the top five best time of the day.
Binder and Miller completed a combined 140 laps around the 4.34km layout. That is more than double their combined number of laps during both races at last weekend’s San Marino MotoGP.
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Both riders experimented with a version of the RC16 bike which test rider Dani Pedrosa used to achieve two fourth places as a wildcard entry in Misano at the weekend.
“Summing up the day it was very positive and Dani and the test team have done a fantastic job to prepare for the race weekend and his bike was very competitive,” said Red Bull KTM technical manager Sebastian Risse.
“We are very confident we can make a step soon. Some of those things we might still see this year, some next year but the plan for the future seems quite bright for us.”
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Binder was also upbeat after Monday’s session. After finishing fifth in the sprint race on Saturday, he felt that he was in a position to challenge the three leaders on Ducati in the main race before he crashed and eventually settled for 14th place.
“Today, we tried two different frames and both had potential and both had strong points. If we can put them together then we’ll be good,” Binder said after the test day.
“I feel pretty comfortable but you always have to be a bit careful at these tests because with so much rubber on the track many things can be great and the weaker parts can be harder to find.
“We also tried things with the engine and gained some more information for the factory to be able to move forward.”
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Binder finds himself in fourth place in the title race on 173 points. Francesco Bagnaia (283), Jorge Martin (247) and Marco Bezzecchi (218), all on Ducatis, occupy the top three spots.
The MotoGP show now moves to India, followed by Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia and Qatar. It then returns to Europe for the season-closing Grand Prix in Valencia.
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