FILE - KTM South African rider Brad Binder goes for the first free practice session ahead of the San Marino MotoGP Grand Prix. Photo: AFP
The MotoGP pre-season stated inauspiciously for the two South Africans who will participate in the elite category this year.
Both Brad Binder and his younger brother Darryn failed to make an immediate impression over this past weekend in Sepang, Malaysia, but will have no doubt gleaned much from their experience.
KTM, for whom Brad rides, completed 380 laps combined across their factory team and their Tech 3 outfit. Brad finished 18th overall in testing, while his teammate Miguel Oliveira finished 15th. Rual Fernandez and Remy Gardner, driving for the sister team, finished 19th and 23rd, respectively.
The weekend test, however, was cut short on Sunday due to inclement weather, both Brad and Oliveira completing the session on wets.
Said Binder of his first outing this year: “These last two days have been a challenge.
“We needed some more time to make the most out of the package. We have made some small changes to the bike and we have the same performance as last year, so now we need to explore, try different set-ups and balances to see what works further.
Good morning from @sepangcircuit!
— KTM Factory Racing (@KTM_Racing) February 5, 2022
The first track action for MotoGP in 2022 is officially underway at the Sepang Test! It’s time for laps, laps and… more laps. 🔄#KTM #ReadyToRace @MotoGP @BradBinder_41 @_moliveira88 pic.twitter.com/vmIFfRVQQh
“(Saturday) was about getting up the speed after the break and then we didn’t have that much time (Sunday) morning before the weather cut things short. I did a few laps in the wet and everything felt good.
“Overall, I feel we have a lot of potential. We need to work more to extract it.”
Meanwhile, and as should be expected, Darryn battled to get to grips with his MotoGP Yamaha. The 24-year-old finished 25th in Sepang, around 0.5 second slower than Franco Morbidelli.
"It’s definitely about getting used to things and learning things,” Darryn said afterwards to crash.net.
“I got to a point where I was doing okay lap times and if the guys weren’t on brand new tyres then I could ride amongst them. That was really cool. I enjoyed that."
Ducati’s Enea Bastianini of Italy was the fastest during the testing, followed by Spanish duo Aleix Espargaro of Aprilia and Jorge Martin of Ducati. Indeed, Bastianini was almost a full second faster than Brad, while Darryn was about 1.7 seconds behind the Italian.
MotoGP continued its pre-season testing this weekend at the new Pertamina Mandalika Circuit in Indonesia.
@FreemanZAR