KTM had no part in the fight for the podium in Argentina after Thailand – What Binder and Acosta are struggling with and why there is hope for improvement
The MotoGP race weekend in Argentina was disappointing for KTM. Not only did they have to admit defeat to the Ducati armada, but this time also to Honda rider Johann Zarco. Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta finished in seventh and eighth place – a long way from the podium.
The race was a particularly challenging one for Binder. This was because he had barely completed a lap of his KTM since qualifying. He collided with Franco Morbidelli early on in the sprint. And there were technical problems in warm-up.
“Unfortunately, I was only able to do one lap. So I went into the race feeling a little rusty,“ admitted the KTM rider, ‘but overall, it went quite well.’
”I gave it everything from the first lap and tried to stay as consistent as possible. I knew that there would probably be a fairly large degradation on the rear tire. It seems that we lose a lot of performance because of that.”
“Because when that happened, I fell back really badly, but I just focused on getting the maximum out of the package we had,” said Binder. He admits that seventh place is ‘not what we want at all,’ but because he did his best, he can’t leave dissatisfied.
Binder: We need to increase the grip window
KTM’s biggest problem at the moment: rear grip. “If we go into a session where the grip suddenly drops significantly, we’ll have big problems. We really need the rear tire to work well,” explains Binder.
“We need to find a way to make that window of grip a lot bigger. I think if we can do that, it will be a lot easier for us.” Thailand and Argentina – traditionally low-grip tracks – did not suit KTM.
So is there any hope for improvement in Austin? “I really hope that by the next race we come along and everything feels easier and better,” says Binder. “But yes, let’s wait and see. I mean, it’s super clear what we need to improve, and now it’s just a matter of finding the way to implement it.”
