MotoGP: Thailand J2, Brad Binder (KTM/Q13-S9): “We tried something radical on the front tyre”

KTM saw a solid outing in Thailand today, with Brad Binder grabbing ninth and Miguel Oliveira taking 13th.

Brad Binder says KTM made a radical setup change on the front of his RC16 for qualifying in Thailand, and the result was a jump from 22nd in FP3 to ninth on the grid.

Having ended up well outside the top ten in the opening three sessions of the weekend at Buriram, the South African made major progress in Q1 and then Q2 to qualify ninth. Team-mate Miguel Oliveira suffered a technical issue in qualifying, but still managed to grab 13th on the grid.

Binder explained: “We made a radical change on the front tyre, just to try to get me a little bit more confidence, turning and braking. It worked out quite well. I’d never gone for that option before on a MotoGP bike and luckily it went quite well. I didn’t quite have the pace to challenge the Ducatis, but I’m within two tenths of pole – not too bad.”

Binder continued: “We need to improve corner entry, turning and braking stability. That’s our weakest point at the minute. But we made a good step there with the front tyre.”

Oliveira said: “I had a small technical problem, in qualifying I lost all my power on the bike. It would come and go and then disappear. Obviously, it meant I couldn’t make a time attack. But we still managed to improve the bike, especially the front feeling from yesterday and also from this morning.

Binder added: “The race pace seems to be good. I did a long run this morning, 12 laps on the same tyre and I was quite happy with that. We’ll see how the race goes tomorrow, I think we can get stuck in and fight for the top ten.”

Oliveira said: “I still need to find the confidence on this track. For some reason I never feel comfortable here. I tried a lot of settings on the bike but still I couldn’t find the good feeling that I need to ride fast.”

Binder concluded: “You’re always hoping for a little bit more [in qualifying], but to be two tenths off the pole time on the KTM, I’m quite happy with that. I’m quite comfortable with my pace. I can ride consistent laps, race pace is quite good. Let’s see how the weather is tomorrow, but I think we’ll have a good race.”