RNF team manager Wilco Zeelenberg compares MotoGP rookie Darryn Binder to Fabio Quartararo when he was once a rookie in the Petronas team
For the new MotoGP team RNF-Yamaha, the shakedown test in Sepang (Malaysia) that ended after three days on Wednesday was the first outing after the official team presentation on January 24. With Andrea Dovizioso and Darryn Binder, RNF will succeed the vanished Petronas team in the upcoming 2022 season.
And just like once upon a time in the 2019 season, the first season of the Petronas era, now in 2022, the first season of the RNF era, one of the two riders will be a MotoGP rookie. Back then it was Fabio Quartararo, this time it is Darryn Binder.
“Darryn’s information about the bike and his feedback are very clear and unambiguous for us,” praises RNF team manager Wilco Zeelenberg after the shakedown test and clarifies: “Just because he doesn’t have any experience with such powerful bikes yet, doesn’t mean that he can’t ride such a bike. Because if it did, we wouldn’t have him under contract. “
While Binder’s MotoGP experience has so far been limited to two days of testing in Jerez in November and now the three days of shakedown testing in Sepang. However, in the Moto3 class, from which he has moved straight up to the premier class, the 24-year-old South African has six years of racing experience.
Binder at the Shakedown Test: Steady improvement, but …
And so Zeelenberg says: “It helps that he is no longer 19 or 18 years old. The basic things are familiar to him, like not going out with the wrong tyres or attacking at the wrong moment. He did the three days [in Sepang] without crashing. That shows he rides in control, even in changing track conditions. “
A look at the timesheets reveals that Binder has gradually improved over the three days in Sepang. His personal best was 2:02.146 on Monday, 2:01.297 on Tuesday and 2:00.928 on Wednesday. “And he didn’t even manage to string together his best sector times on the last day,” Zeelenberg remarks and is convinced: “I’m sure he still has room for improvement. “
Binder himself says: “I was quite satisfied with the first day. The following day we managed to make a decent step forward. I had a better feeling with every ride. But at the same time I felt the heat. And the heat is no fun especially on this [MotoGP] bike. “
And so the rookie in RNF-Yamaha ranks admits he felt “a bit slow and tired” on day three. “The bike was working well, but I couldn’t show everything I had set out to do,” said the younger brother of Brad Binder.
Quartararo vs. Binder: Zeelenberg compares “his” rookies
Zeelenberg, who was team manager at Petronas-Yamaha for three years and is now also the team manager of the second Yamaha team in the field under the RNF banner, can draw a direct comparison between Fabio Quartararo and Darryn Binder.
“Fabio was younger then,” Zeelenberg recalls. “He was really strong at a very young age, was better than everyone else in the junior classes when he was 14 or 15. Then he had a weaker phase [in the Moto3 and Moto2 World Championships] and struggled. But when we signed him, we knew he had the talent for great things. “
“It’s the same with Darryn,” Zeelenberg says of Binder, “Just like Fabio, he is very strong in his head and is able to recover from setbacks. In terms of pure talent, I think there are a few differences, but they are not big. “
“That’s the reason,” Zeelenberg continued, “why we brought Darryn straight from Moto3 to the MotoGP class. He has been our rider for a while and we are convinced that we can guide him in the right direction to be really competitive in the MotoGP class in the future. “
Binder’s crew chief is also a MotoGP rookie
As crew chief, Darryn Binder has someone at RNF-Yamaha for whom the premier class of MotoGP is also new territory: Noe Herrara, who was in charge of Raul Fernandez at Aki Ajo’s Moto2 team last year. Meanwhile, Fernandez has Nicolas Goyon as his crew chief at Tech-3-KTM in his own first rookie MotoGP season. The Frenchman worked with Iker Lecuona last year.
Binder himself says after the shakedown test, in which he reached his limits on the third day: “What I need now is a few days of rest so that my body can recover. At the same time, I need to think about everything I have been told over the past few days. After all, that’s quite a lot. I have to process all the information. Then I should be able to go a bit faster on Saturday.”
By Saturday, Binder is referring to the start of the official Sepang test this weekend. Unlike from Monday to Wednesday, not only the rookies and the test riders are in action on Saturday and Sunday, but all the regular riders for the 2022 MotoGP season.