Explained: What happened to Brad Binder’s KTM at the British MotoGP
Brad Binder sheds light on what went wrong on Silverstone starting grid
Brad Binder’s British MotoGP never got started.
The factory KTM rider lined up from sixth on the grid but faced an immediate technical issue, meaning he barely got off the line and was overtaken by everybody within moments.
Binder’s race ended immediately and he gave a frustrated explanation to media including Crash.net afterwards.
“I haven’t got much to say,” he sighed.
“I got to the start. When I pulled off, I had a slight clutch issue and I couldn’t get away.
“So, yeah, end of story.”
Binder explained more about his clutch: “It started slipping when I went away. It unfortunately stayed in.
“It started slipping when I tried to launch. I tried to get it to release but it didn’t want to.
“I tried to get back to the pits to swap bikes but it didn’t make it.”
He insisted there were no problems until he lined up on the starting grid: “It was all okay. When I got the grid I really battled to engage neutral. I thought ‘oh shit…’
“Then, obviously the bike was creeping forwards on the grid. I had an idea of what was coming.
“I tried my best to stay down and put my hand up, in case someone hit me, so I could be more braced for it. I was lucky that nobody did.”
TNT Sports’ Michael Laverty analysed what went wrong: “They’ve forgotten to disengage fuel-save mode from the sighting lap.
“Unfortunately, it has happened before.
“They put a map in to use no fuel on the sighting lap. They come round to the grid and they should put the race map back in.”
Binder regrettably hoped his KTM have found answers to some of its problems at Silverstone.
“This morning we turned things upside-down,” he said.
“We put in completely different stuff which we hadn’t used in ages, and I was fast on a medium tyre.
“We worked super hard on our tyres, trying to make lap time, because we spin so much. So our wear was high. It would have been difficult to have made it the whole way in a good condition.”
