Japanese MotoGP: Binder: Why Aragon worked for KTM, but Motegi might be ‘challenging’

A stunning opening lap at Aragon laid the foundation for Brad Binder to claim KTM’s best dry result since the Qatar season opener. But the corner characteristics of this weekend’s Motegi round might make things trickier.
Brad Binder, MotoGP race, Aragon MotoGP, 18 September
Brad Binder, MotoGP race, Aragon MotoGP, 18 September

Binder not only rocketed from tenth on the grid to an early second place last Sunday but had the pace to hold a podium position right 𓆏until the penultimate lap, when he was finally passed by Aleix Espargaro.

“The layout suited our bike, there wasn’t too much hard br🔯aking stuff, just keeping speed and flowing♔,” Binder explained on the eve of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix.

“That🥂’s one thing that worked better for us this season. It used to be our weakest point, now it’s our strongest. Now we need to improve in the small corners.

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“Honestly, this season we’ve been havꦿing a lot more issues stopping the bike a𒅌nd driving off slow corners,” explained the South African.

“We just seem to get locking of the front 🌳really early in braking zones. We don’t have the deceleration that others have.

“They can brake later than us at this stage. Also we don’t 🔯quite turn fast enough in these slow corners. we spend too much time in lean angle and don’t go down the straight close enough.

“So I think there are a couple of points [at Motegi] that might be tricky. When the track starts tꦕo be more round and flowing, that’s where it works well. Some parts here will be good for us, others more challenging.”

Gardner: I don’t know how Brad does it

Rookie 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Remy Gardner, riding the Tech3 KTM, said he was in awe of Binder’s perf𓂃ormance at Aragon.

“I don’t know how Brad does it to be honest,” Gardner said. “I mean he’s got a really different riding style to all of u🤡s that’s for sure. He makes all the time up on entry, on brakes, having the bike sideways on entry with a really different set-up as well.

“We’ve tried that. I can’t ma🍷ke it work and I don’t think 🐽many other guys can. But it seems like it’s the only way to make the KTM go fast at the moment. I mean there will be tracks where our style will suit better that’s for sure.

“But Aragon, I ha꧙ve no idea how he did 🥂that to be honest.”

Oliveira: It’s the slow corners where we’re struggling

Binder’s factory team-mate 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Miguel Oliveira, the only KTM rider with pri🎃or MotoGP experience at Motegi, agreed it’s slow corners where t♒he RC16 suffers at the moment.

“Right now it’s the [slow] corners where we’re strꦇuggling the most, not in terms of pure acceleration, but the stopping and turning at this initial moment, it’s a thing where we suffer more,” Oliveira said.

“But sometimes in a different layout of a track, this is something we can’t s💃ee so much. I’m quite confident we can perform well here. It’s really hard on the brakes so we h🎐ave to sort the brakes first and make sure everything works over distance.

“I💟t's also one of the tracks where we’ll use the ride-height device the most. We’ve had no issues and it looks like we can use it as many tim👍es as we’d like during the lap.

“The weather doesn’t l𝓡ook fantastic, so we’ll be looking to make the most of tomorrow’s practice.”

Oꦡliveira took KTM’s only victory of the season so far in the wet Mandalika 🐽round.

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