SA's Binder starts new season brilliantly with 2nd place at Qatar Moto GP

South Africa's Brad Binder finished an impressive second at the season-opening Qatar Moto GP on Sunday. 

Having started fourth on the grid, Binder was off to a flying start and quickly got up to second before he was overtaken by Jorge Martin. 

Binder, though, soon wrestled second place back from the Spaniard and that's where he would stay for the rest of the race. 

Defending champion Francesco Bagnaia, meanwhile, was largely comfortable as he led the race pretty much from start to finish to claim the victory. 

Binder did seem to be gaining on Bagnaia in the closing stages of the race, but an overtake was never really on the cards. 

Binder said he was "super stoked" after also finishing second in the sprint.

"We knew it was going to be tough to get to the end. I tried to get so close to 'Pecco' (Bagnaia) but he did an unreal job, he didn't make one mistake."

The Moto GP calendar now moves to Portugal on 24 March.