Two crashes for Brad Binder as first MotoGP test of 2021 comes to a close

It was an eventful day for Brad Binder who managed to complete 41 laps, but suffered two crashes late on. 

The South African goes into his second year on the RC16 but with a new team-mate for 2021 in the form of Miguel Oliveira - third time the pair have been teammates and first time in MotoGP. 

Binder summed up his day the way only Binder can by saying: "What a day! Holy shit. Today was one of those days. It was a little bit difficult this morning and I didn’t feel great but then I really started to find my way on the bike.

"We had two new sets of tyres and just before I put one new set I fell off. Then when I went on the other bike we put on another set and I fell off without making a lap! We decided to call it quits for the day.

"We did get the chance to try a few things that we wanted to and it’s unfortunate to finish the day like this but luckily we have three good days coming next week."

BInder will get another opportunity to test out the components that he missed out on with a second test yet to come. 

As for what caused the crashes, Binder said: "Both crashes were very similar. Both at the end of the day and I didn’t expect it at all. I washed the front, very slow and it went away.

"After the first one I thought it might have been race distance on the tyres so that was why.

"The last one – the only thing I can see from looking at the data is that perhaps a little bit of wind caught me [oh, vicar] because it was quite a windy area and it upset the front and it just washed.

"As soon as I put the front brake into 14. I had a few looks with my guys and it seems to be what went wrong."

It was a better day for Oliveira who finished the day in 11th place, +0.726s off Fabio Quartararo.

Both riders will be action again on March 10 for another three day test at the Losail International Circuit.