Brad Binder celebrates his sprint victory at the MotoGP event in Argentina earlier this month. Picture: Steve Wobser/Getty Images
Though he is currently focused on what he hopes will be his best season thus far on the MotoGP circuit, Brad Binder is eager to return to South Africa to race in front of his home crowd one day.
The last MotoGP contest held in SA was in 2004, but with talks apparently continuing behind the scenes about top-flight motor racing returning to Kyalami (including a potential Formula One event), Binder said on Thursday he believed the country still had the facilities and the ability to host one of the best MotoGP races in the world.
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“With Kyalami we have this facility that is better than most of the places we go on the calendar, so I honestly would really love to have a Grand Prix back in South Africa,” Binder said.
“I think it would be great for me and also the country as a whole. I have such an amazing following and MotoGP interest is growing in South Africa, from what I’ve seen, and I’m sure the people would appreciate having a Grand Prix to go to.”
For now, however, Binder has his sights set on the rest of the 2023 MotoGP season with his Red Bull KTM team.
Though he has had a wobbly start to the campaign, not yet securing a top-five finish in the first three headline races, he gained some confidence by winning the sprint contest at the second leg in Argentina earlier this month.
READ MORE: Brad Binder says KTM on right track despite poor MotoGP result
“The goal for me, of course, is to be as high up the championship table as possible, but the only way to do that is to be fighting for wins and podiums every weekend,” he said.
“That’s my goal, and if I can just try and take advantage of each race in the short term it always seems to pay off at the end of the year, so that’s where my focus lies at the moment.”
With his team working hard to get his KTM running as well as possible, Binder was confident that this could still be their season to shine, with 18 races left on the 2023 calendar.
“For me the bike is a helluva lot better … way more competitive than last year,” he said.
“Last season I felt like I couldn’t really achieve what I knew we could as a team because we just didn’t quite have our package together yet, whereas this season it started off really difficult but we’ve made some small steps forward which have been a massive game changer for us.
“I have a lot of faith and belief in the bike I have underneath me, and I’ve always believed I have the ability to do good things in MotoGP, so I really feel this is my opportunity now to really put everything together.”
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