“Enduring 20 laps around COTA with that absence wasn’t exactly enjoyable.”
“At COTA, despite Pedro Acosta’s impressive performance on the sister GASGAS machine, it turned out to be the most challenging weekend of the MotoGP season so far for Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder and Jack Miller.
Coming into the weekend second in the world championship, Binder’s aspirations took a hit with a disappointing 17th place in qualifying, compounded by a fractured bone in his foot from a motocross training mishap.
The South African found himself outside the points in tenth during the Sprint race, and although he made a strong start in the grand prix, his race was compromised when he sustained wing damage at Turn 1, dropping him to 15th.
His woes continued as he lost another position to Alex Rins on lap 6, but he managed to claw his way back to ninth place.
“It was a tough race for us, even though I got the best launch of my life!” Binder commented. “I think that was the highlight.
“In Turn 1, I tried to take the outside line to gain positions, but with the chaos among riders, I unfortunately ended up breaking my rear wing and front left wing.
“Running 20 laps around COTA with those missing pieces wasn’t exactly enjoyable. The bike kept pulling to one side, especially on the straights. It felt quite unstable, so I had to countersteer a lot. Losing the entire rear wing meant we didn’t have the downforce the bike was set up for. So it became really tricky to manage after that.”
“But I was able to eventually find a rhythm despite the circumstances with my tire and set some competitive pace. It was a challenging weekend and one to put behind us, although I believe our GP here seems much worse than it actually was!”
Starting from eleventh on the grid, Miller secured seventh place in the Sprint race, then seized an early third position in the grand prix due to some advantageous maneuvers amidst the pack. However, similar to Francesco Bagnaia, he began to grapple with rear grip issues after the sixth lap.
“I felt really comfortable within the group for the initial six laps,” explained Miller, who ultimately finished in 13th position.
“The bike was handling better than it had been yesterday, but as soon as lap seven hit, I encountered significant grip problems that only worsened. I struggled to maintain corner speed.
“It was quite puzzling considering we had pushed hard for ten laps on the same soft rear tire compound during the Sprint race.
“I had been managing the tire well, building up its performance, so it was very unexpected. I just tried to ride as defensively as possible for the remainder of the race.
“We have an excellent package, and I was able to battle it out with the other riders. However, today presented an unforeseen challenge. It is what it is.”
In contrast to the KTM duo, runner-up Acosta opted for the medium rear tire compound.
Team manager Francesco Guidotti remains optimistic that COTA was merely a hiccup.
“We’re eagerly looking ahead to Jerez because there are plenty of indications that the bike is performing well – as we saw with Pedro Acosta today – and we have faith that it will deliver a strong performance there as well,” he affirmed.
Stay tuned with We4GP for more news.
