Brad Binder: Pol’s KTM ‘more for the future than right now’

Although encouraged to see the KTM prototype of wild-card Pol Espargaro exiting corners better at the Austrian MotoGP, Brad Binder acknowledged the Spaniard’s bike is ‘more for the future than right now’.

That’s certainly the case for Espargaro’s revised engine since the MotoGP homologation rules prevent engine design changes for race riders during the season (unless a manufacturer is in the lowest D concession ranking).

However, engine ancillaries (such as exhausts), electronics, chassis parts and aerodynamics outside of the ‘Aero Body’ areas can be updated.

“Pol’s on quite a different package to us,” Binder said at the Red Bull Ring.

“[He] seems to come off the corners a lot better, which is where we're losing a lot of time, so that's really positive for sure.”

KTM memorably fast-tracked last year’s carbon fibre chassis over to the race team after Dani Pedrosa’s strong Misano performance and a positive post-race test with Binder and Jack Miller.

But Binder, who finished fifth and top KTM in Sunday’s race, played down the chances of the Austrian GP parts arriving on his machine soon.

“I think Pol’s spec is more something for the future than right now,” said the South African.

“I think what we have is what we’ve got. And they're working more for next year than stuff that we're going to use this year, as far as I know.”

Binder took the chequered flag as the top non-Ducati but was 18 seconds behind race winner Francesco Bagnaia. 

The #33 had held fourth place until being passed by a recovering Marc Marquez with ten laps to go.

“I knew if he was going to pass me, it was going to be into Turn 6 or 7, because of the amount of spinning through 5, I was going through there like a snail!” Binder said.

“When he passed me, the next lap I could see it, he pulled a couple of tenths just in that one corner. So I think I probably surprised him with how slowly I was going around there to be honest.”

Espargaro - whose bike also featured eye-catching wings mounted on the swingarm - finished as the next-best KTM in 11th place, after a fall for Miller.