Marco Bezzecchi
KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer admits that Brad Binder’s start to the 2026 season has been “frustrating”, as his riding style has held him back more than the RC16 does.
Beirer does not want to “criticise” Binder individually, and he also adds that KTM potentially need to work on making the RC16 “even easier” to ride to help the South African. But Pedro Acosta and Enea Bastianini have both proven that better results are possible so far this year.
Binder started the 2026 MotoGP season fairly strongly, with P6 in the Buriram Sprint and P7 in the Thailand Grand Prix. Yet Acosta won the Buriram Sprint after Marc Marquez’s penalty, finished P2 in the Thailand GP and also took P3 in the United States Grand Prix last time out.
Tech3 rider Bastianini inherited P3 in the COTA Sprint after Acosta’s tyre pressure penalty, as well, for his first rostrum this year, before taking P6 in the United States GP. Binder only took P12 in the United States GP, 17.565 seconds behind Acosta and also 13.819s from Bastianini.
Finish the sentence: In 2027, Brad Binder will be racing for …
Pit Beirer urges Brad Binder to abandon his trademark rear tyre slide under braking
Beirer has previously admitted that KTM are not “where we want” with Binder, or Bastianini and Maverick Vinales, who struggled through the first three rounds after the screw in his left shoulder became loose. Bastianini had not ranked in the top 10 before the United States GP.
READ MORE: The best moments of Brad Binder’s MotoGP career
Beirer especially thinks Binder can do more to improve after his difficult start to the season. While KTM and Binder worked on his mindset over the winter, the 30-year-old still needs to adapt his braking style. His trademark of making the rear tyre slide is now holding him back.
“It’s frustrating for us, too,” Beirer told SPEEDWEEK. “We worked so hard with him this year regarding the mindset – for example, how we start the weekend to put on the pressure right from the start on Friday.
“After Thailand, we were sixth in the world championship with him and we were on the right track. In Brazil, it was definitely down to our performance with the bike that led to a bad weekend. But based on what we saw from Enea and Pedro in Austin, there wasn’t really any reason to say that it just wasn’t possible with the KTM.
“The younger generation has changed the riding style in this class. Marc Marquez, for example, has changed his riding style five times in his career. He’s just keeping up.
“And Brad, with his brutally late braking and sliding sideways into corners, for a year or two, that was an incredible benchmark, being able to ride like that.
“But now you have to use the tyre when braking. You can’t just let it slide. We need to refine that with him and take a step forward in his riding to be able to keep up with the others.”
Do you agree with Pedro Acosta that MotoGP should mandate more two-week breaks?
Binder has always been very aggressive under braking through how he slides the rear wheel and overloads the front tyre to make his bike stop. But that approach is no longer proving to be effective, and proving to Beirer that he can change could now prove crucial for his career.
It is thought that Binder’s place in MotoGP is now at risk if KTM do not keep him, as he does not have a backup plan in the premier class paddock in case the Austrian outfit do not offer him a new contract. Binder is currently due to be a free agent at the end of the 2026 season.
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