Crash.net's Top 10 MotoGP Riders of 2021: 9th - Brad Binder

• Team: Red Bull KTM (factory)
• Bike: RC16
• Wins: 1
• Podiums: 1
• Best Qualifying: 6
• Fastest Lap: 0
• DNFs: 1
• Championship position: 6th

A brilliant, brave ride on slick tyres, as the leaders pitted for wets in a late-race downpour, saw Brad Binder win this year's Austrian MotoGP.

It was the clear highlight in an often frustrating second premier-class season for the South African, who finished as the top KTM in the world championship but celebrated just one podium.

Indeed, without the chaos created by the Red Bull Ring storm, Binder would probably have finished the year without a rostrum.

It's no secret that the RC16 faltered in its first season without technical concessions, but the bike did hit a brief sweet spot with a triple podium run in the hands of team-mate Miguel Oliveira.

The Portuguese scored 65 out of 75 points in the Mugello-Catalunya-Sachsenring events, but Binder couldn't take advantage of what proved the bike's best dry races, managing only 32 points.

Nonetheless, when Oliveira's results evaporated over the second half of the championship, Binder stepped up as top KTM in the last nine races, consistency taking him to sixth overall (after Marc Marquez's withdraw).

That’s a clear improvement on last year's eleventh, despite facing some of the circuits for the first time as a MotoGP rider.

Qualifying again proved troublesome with only four top-ten starts, but Binder - who made history with KTM's first MotoGP win at Brno last season - did iron-out his rookie errors to take the chequered flag in all but one race.

In conclusion, the slow-burning opening half of the season - when Binder finished as top KTM just twice in nine rounds - combined with an absence of Oliveira's occasional dry podium form, means we’ve kept Binder in the same ninth place as on the 2020 countdown.

This time, however, he is the only KTM rider to feature in our top ten.