Brad Binder rues lost opportunity after early Thai MotoGP setback

A frustrated Brad Binder on Sunday was left ruing an early setback at the Thailand MotoGP which he finished in 10th place.

The Red Bull KTM rider started in 12th place on the grid in wet conditions in Buriram and was just starting to make his way up the field on the second lap when title contender Aleix Espargaro pushed him wide. Binder lost a handful of places after the incident and had to play catch-up for the rest of the race.

Race Direction slapped Espargaro with a long lap penalty for “irresponsible riding” which resulted in the Spaniard dropped behind Binder to eventually finish in 11th place.

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“I didn’t get a great start but passed a few riders and then on lap two someone hit me on the inside and I went off the track,” Binder told his team’s website.

“When I rejoined deep in the pack I couldn’t see anything! When I went down the straight it was like someone had a blanket over my eyes because of the spray.”

KTM team boss Francesco Guidotti was sympathetic to Binder’s cause.

“He was unlucky that Aleix put him out of the track because it was difficult to recover from there,” Guidotti said.

The six points Binder earned for 10th place helped him move up to 154 points while staying in sixth place in the standings. He did lost ground on fifth-place Jack Miller, who finished second behind Miguel Oliveira in Buriram to move up to 179 points.

With three races left, Miller still has a mathematical chance in the MotoGP title race against frontrunners Fabio Quartararo (219), Francesco Bagnaia (217), Espargaro (199) and Enea Bastianini (180).

“It’s frustrating because I know I could have done a much better job today,” concluded Binder.

Brad Binder’s younger brother Darryn Binder finished the Thailand MotoGP in 21st place on his Yamaha after starting from 23rd on the grid.

“I felt quite good in the first laps but you couldn’t see anything going from turn 1 to 3 then to 4, it was shocking. I think I was riding like fourth gear on the straight in the first four laps because I couldn’t see where I was going,” said Darryn Binder.

The next MotoGP race is at Phillip Island in Australia on 16 October.