Binder rues ‘massive mistake with tyre choice’, Gardner in ‘survival’ mode
While Miguel Oliveira made progress during the closing stages of Sunday’s British MotoGP at Silverstone, Binder and Gardner both went the other way after electing to use the medium rear tyre, a compound that others such as Fabio Quartararo also struggled with.
After early contact which resulted in him losing touch with the lead group, Binder managed to find his way back onto the tail end of the top ten.
But as Oliveira used his impressive late race pace to get past Aleix Espargaro, Quartararo and Alex Rins, Binder instead lost out to Marco Bezzecchi when a significant drop in tyre performance occurred with a few laps remaining.
"All weekend we had quite good pace on race rubber and I had a really good start, but unfortunately in turn 5 I had a bit of contact and lost five positions," said Binder.
"It put me off the back of the front group and although I caught up again I made a massive mistake with my tyre choice.
"I paid for it because I had a large drop in the last laps. Sorry to my team because we could have definitely done something good today. A big learning experience for us."
Oliveira secures best MotoGP finish since Portimao
Like Binder, Oliveira once again struggled during qualifying as KTM’s hopes of being more competitive over one lap have seemingly made very little progress over the summer break.
However, Sunday’s race was another example of how strong Oliveira and KTM can be when it comes to race trim, as only Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini had more pace than the Portuguese rider.
Oliveira said: "A good race and I had fun. There was the potential to be a bit further up the ranking but starting from the fifth row is always challenging.
"I’m happy to have had a solid weekend: all the sessions were decent. We made a few overtaking moves and that also helped for confidence. Hopefully we can improve and do a bit better in Austria."
Oliveira has good memories of the Red Bull Ring after winning his maiden MotoGP race at the Austrian circuit in 2020.
Gardner misses out on points after medium rear tyre choice
Opting to also use the medium rear on what was the hottest day of the weekend, Gardner lost out on the opportunity to score points when he lost around two seconds per lap.
Battling to save his MotoGP future, Gardner had an impressive showing during qualifying as he managed to get close to both factory KTM riders.
And while it’s another race where he outperformed team-mate Raul Fernandez, the Australian ended up rueing his tyre decision after completing the last six laps in ‘survival’.
"I made a decent start and went with the group. It was fun," said Gardner. "I was enjoying myself but from about lap ten the rear tyre really dropped and the last six laps were about survival.
"There was no edge grip and it was costing me a couple of seconds a lap. We didn’t try the hard tyre over the weekend and that was a mistake. It might have given us a better result.
"The gap to the front was the closest it has been all year, even with those last six-seven laps so the pace was pretty good."
