Brad Binder bullish despite two crashes: “Zero grip, tyre was basically wood!”

Brad Binder remains bullishly confident about the Portuguese MotoGP despite crashing in qualifying and in the sprint race.

The KTM rider’s first fall on Saturday meant he was restricted to lining up 10th on the starting grid, where he will resume on Sunday too.

But Binder then also tumbled out of the sprint race in Portimao.

• 2024 Portuguese MotoGP, Portimao - Sprint Race Results

He reacted: “Today was a tricky one!

“I didn’t feel too bad this morning, everything was okay.

“Unfortunately in Q2 I ended up crashing on the first flying lap.

“I ran back to the pits and got onto my spare bike.

“The second tyre I used had zero performance, no grip. So that was my qualifying pretty much done.

“I started 10th, it’s always tricky starting further back.

“I got a good start, got boxed in, couldn’t get through the guys.

“I struggled a little in the faster corners to keep the bike turning.

“I made a little mistake. I ran a little wide, ended up braking the same as I always would.

“I had the front wheel not quite on the line. When I hit the bump, it locked up.

“Little crash, nothing serious.

“Better on a Saturday than on a Sunday.”

Binder doesn’t have any concerns about his KTM despite a bad Saturday.

“It’s a track that I’ve struggled at in the past,” he said.

“But we’ve been fast, been okay. Not difficult to put competitive times together.

“But we got unlucky. The wheels fell off after I crashed. Then I messed up again in the race.

“Unfortunately that’s racing.”

Notably his KTM teammate Jack Miller was fifth in the sprint, a sign of what might have been for Binder, who is widely considered the top non-Ducati title contender this season.

“I really believed, if we got going, it would’ve been a different story,” he said.

“I have the pace to have gone at the boys. At least given it a good go.

“But I never put it together. I crashed on the third lap.

“It just wasn’t our day. I made my own mistakes. Time to write it off.”

Yet Binder insists a Sunday turnaround is on the cards.

“Tomorrow will be good for us,” he insisted.

“The medium - most people will run that because the softs won’t get to the end.

“It’ll be better for us.

“My problems in the race today were pushing the front.

“We made some changes because I had absolutely zero grip with tyre that was basically wood!”