Brad Binder: “We made a clear step forward, but so did the others”
Brad Binder believes KTM are not ‘far off at all’ heading into the 2024 MotoGP season, despite seeing Ducati dominate the Sepang test.
While the 2023 MotoGP season was a very dominant one for Ducati, Brad Binder was not far away from winning races.
The KTM rider could have won the final race of the season before making a mistake when leading, and although he ended the year winless - Binder did win twice in the new sprint format - the expectation for 2024 is to push on and become a title contender.
Takaaki Nakagami: 2024 Honda ‘completely different, easy to reach max performance’
- The most crucial tech innovations on display at MotoGP Sepang test
KTM seemingly has a package that is good enough to challenge Ducati, even though the latter still held an advantage at the Sepang test.
“It’s insane,” Binder told MotoGP.com about the current level in the premier class. “It’s clear that we made a step forward ourselves but so did the other guys.
“It’s always cool to see how MotoGP keeps stepping up and the level keeps rising.
“I felt like our bike is working much better than it has previously and we found some small things that made quite a big difference for me.
“Now it is all about putting the finer details together and I don’t think we’re far off at all.”
Binder finished last season as the best placed rider not on a Ducati, but the recently married South African felt as though a lot of opportunities went to waste.
The RC16 has been gradually improving every season and if they can provide Binder with a bike capable of winning, chances are he will make it happen given his ability to deliver standout performances every Sunday.
“Last year was a really good year for us,” began Binder. “We had a lot of good days and were about to fight for the podium most weekends.
“But I also made a lot of mistakes. I crashed a lot more than I normally do and I let a lot of opportunities slip.
“I think that going forward, I’m really excited to see how we can manage this season.
“With all the experience from last year, we know that we’re in a much more competitive window to be even stronger this season.”
