Zero points: A lacklustre farewell from the desert for KTM rider Brad Binder

In the spring of 2024, Brad Binder was already enjoying brilliant success as a KTM factory rider. The South African battled it out with World Championship favourites Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia in both the sprint and the full-distance races, securing two second-place finishes in the desert. But times have changed.

From a sporting perspective, Binder would have been best advised to call time on his third-to-last appearance as a MotoGP rider on Friday. Without any significant problems with the RC16, he managed – albeit narrowly – to qualify directly for the second qualifying session. Binder was thus more successful than team frontrunner Acosta, who had failed to reach Q2 for the very first time in 2026 at Losail. However, Binder was also a full second off Marc Márquez’s pace in the crucial qualifying session.

When the pace picked up on Saturday, ‘BB33’ was unable to improve on his times – finishing 12th in Q2. Nor was Binder able to live up to his nickname ‘Brad Attack’ in the sprint race. Whilst the struggling Jorge Martín, who started right next to Binder, raced his way to the front, the most experienced KTM rider showed no attacking potential whatsoever. Finishing twelfth, Binder didn’t even pick up a single World Championship point for his MotoGP tally.

Brad Binder kehrte früh in die KTM-Box zurück

Foto: Gold and Goose

Sunday proved that things could get even worse. Once again, Binder was unable to make up a single position at the start; once again, the number 33 had no choice but to follow Gresini rider Fermin Aldeguer. The Spaniard, who had been set back by a long-lap penalty, served as a reference point, but Binder never found a way past him. At the end of the 15th lap, technical issues brought his Desert GP outing to an end.

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Binder reported, visibly dejected: “There’s not much to say. The race wasn’t exactly thrilling from start to finish. A few laps before the end, I had some problems changing gears a few times, then vibrations set in and at some point I couldn’t change gears at all.”

Binder was thus part of what was, on the whole, an unsuccessful Qatar GP – after all, three of the four RC16s made it into Q2 on Saturday – but only two scored points, and the Austrians were once again denied a podium at Losail in 2026. As with Honda, their performance was marred by technical problems. Whilst Binder was forced to retire during the GP race, KTM ace Acosta was only affected during the non-scoring sessions – though on two separate occasions.

Brad Binder’s pointless outing at Losail had no impact on his World Championship standings. Ahead of the final two rounds of his GP career, the future BMW Superbike rider sits in 12th place, 11 points behind Fermin Aldeguer, but just one point ahead of Luca Marini.