MotoGP Mandalika Test: Binder ‘sharpening his tool for Qatar’

Brad Binder was in charge in Indonesia for the majority of Saturday testing until late shots fired dropped the Red Bull KTM to 11th.

Unable to join the final hour time attacks due to an issue with the RC16’s chain, Binder was nonetheless pleased with the work undertaken and the speed and confidence he’s finding with the KTM at Mandalika compared to last week’s struggles in Sepang.

“Well, I was quite fast yesterday afternoon, and quite fast this morning also,” Binder confirmed after the second day at the Pertamina Street Circuit. “I feel quite good with the bike. We’re still in the stages where we’re trying a whole load of different setups, and each exit I’m pretty much on a bit of a different bike.

“We did a couple of time attacks this morning then after that we just worked on the medium tyres trying a whole lot of different settings. We found some things that are a little bit positive and other things obviously that aren’t good, but that’s testing. Tomorrow the goal is to really combine it all and see where we really are because in the last run I didn’t get to use my soft tyre. I only used one this morning and when I put it in this afternoon we had a small issue with the chain and I didn’t get to do a time attack.

“That was a little bit difficult because we didn’t get to really see where we are exactly, but yeah, the feeling’s there. I’m happy with the progress we’ve made and we just need to keep working tomorrow and trying to get to the point where we are as competitive as we can be and our tool is as sharp as it can be before Qatar.

“This morning I felt pretty good,” he continued. “At first exit already I improved the lap time from yesterday on used tyres so already then I realised the track is much better and that