GP Malaysia, Brad Binder seeks a first win of the season

Brad Binder’s 2023 season enters the final stage, with the South African setting his sights on victory in Sunday’s race at Sepang. The KTM rider has had a very positive season to date and currently lies fourth in the standings, behind the three ducatisti battling for the win, or rather Pecco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi. On several occasions, Binder has proved to be the Borgo Panigale riders’ main rival, scoring four podiums and reaching the highest step of the rostrum in the Sprint races in Argentina and Jerez. To round out the year on a high, he has stated that he wants a win in the ‘long’ race, a result that looks to be well within his reach. Binder's last victory in the main race dates back to the Austrian GP of 2021.

Brad Binder: "We struggled in tested, now we’ll see how much we’ve improved”

He missed out on the win by just a fraction of a second at the latest Thai round, further proof of the South African’s competitiveness and strength as he enjoys his best MotoGP season to date. Binder has won at Sepang in the past, in Moto2 in 2019, and so this is a good opportunity to try and do the same in the reigning class: "We’ll start from where we left off at Buriram, again fighting with the frontrunners right to the end and maybe even win. It’s always great to come back to Sepang as I have good memories of the place. We had a few problems in winter testing, but the team has worked hard all year and things are totally different now.” Binder continues: “It will be interesting to see the progress we’ve made. In February we were still working out which way to go and carried out many tests. Today things are very different and I’ll try to find the best possible feeling already in practice.”

As for the title, Binder rates Bagnaia’s chances

The 2016 Moto3 world champion weighs up his chances of a win: "I rewatched the Thailand race and think I was missing something over the last two laps. I ran onto the green and that caused me to lose second place”. The KTM rider continues: “In Australia I made a mistake but could have won, just like Thailand, it was my mistake. My team deserves this result, it’s true we’ve won Sprint races but winning in Sunday’s race is the real goal”.

With the Buriram podium, Binder has become the most successful South African rider of all time in the reigning class, a prestigious result both for him personally and for South Africa’s motorcycle scene: "it’s definitely a big milestone, it’s great to see just how much MotoGP is growing in South Africa and how many people like watching the races, just as I love racing”. Lastly, Binder touches on the title fight between Bagnaia and Martin: "Both Martin and Bagnaia have done an incredible job up until now, I’m often behind them and rarely in front. Martin’s showing amazing form right now, while Bagnaia is already world champion and can make his experience count".