The press conference held after the Qatar Grand Prix motorcycle, on the Losail circuit, brought together Francis Bagnaia, Brad Binder et George Martin to answer various questions from journalists.
With two second places acquired during this first weekend, the KTM official is making his best start to the season in MotoGP, but still feels a little lacking in achieving victory ahead of the Ducati...
As usual, we report his words here without the slightest formatting, even if it is translated from English.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the post-race press conference, following a thrilling Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix that will kick off 2024, with three extraordinary Grands Prix to celebrate the anniversary of our 75th season. First Grand Prix podium in MotoGP is led by World Champion, Ducati Lenovo Team rider Pecco Bagnaia, a great start to the season for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Brad Binder after his second place in the Sprint, Brad second in the 21-lap Grand Prix this evening, and it's also a very good weekend for Prima Pramac Racing Jorge Martin. He broke the lap record from pole position last night, took his tenth victory in the Tissot Sprint and finished third in the Grand Prix.
Second place, as in the Tissot Sprint last night, for the South African Brad Binder. Brad, this looks from the outside like a great start to the season for you personally and for KTM. Are you getting closer to the Ducati, is that one of your main thoughts at the end of a very positive weekend?
Brad Binder : “Yeah, I mean, we can't complain. You know, two second places to start the season is fantastic. You know, I'm much more satisfied with my second place today than with yesterday. Yesterday I felt like we were missing something, but today was much better. My team did a great job fixing some of our issues from yesterday. I knew today's race was going to be very difficult for us, because we are very hard on the rear tire sometimes, and I needed to go all the way. It was hard to stay calm because I could see Pecco was right there (laughs). It's like a carrot being dangled and you want to go grab it, but I knew if I tried to push maybe I'd catch up a little, but probably I could lose a few seconds in the final laps. So yeah, you really have to try to be smart, you know. Then it was great to fight with Jorge, and yes, I had a lot of fun. Let's see if we can improve a little. It would be great to try and give the guys a good battle next time. »
Yesterday you said that you were very strong on the brakes and in the corners, but that you were losing ground when accelerating out of the corners. Were you able to find anything coming out of the corner to get closer to the Ducatis?
“Today there was obviously one thing we needed to improve on yesterday and that was that I had a lot of pumping and the grip was a bit inconsistent. Once I started to spin a little when I put the gas back on, it never stuck. It's still very, very good during the first three laps of the race and unfortunately there is a little drop in speed, but it remains constant after that. The guys worked really hard on the electronics and changed the settings of the bike a little bit, and everything was a lot more under control, so we never had that big pump. Today I had a bit of that vibration that the other guys seemed to have too, especially when the tire started to wear. I started feeling more and more of it, even though I never felt any all weekend or yesterday. So it was a bit of a surprise. But yes, for me it is clear what we need to improve and I hope my guys find something for us. »
Yesterday we talked with a lot of you about tire wear, tire problems, and I guess going into this race you didn't know what was going to happen. You obviously used your data from yesterday to get a better bike, but what was your strategy for this race?
“For us, you know, I think after yesterday the Sprint gave us a little lesson, because we went pretty hard and I burned my rear tire, pretty badly at the beginning. And yes, I knew that when you have to double the distance, you have to be smarter. So yes, the goal today was to use less gas, more brake, and try not to burn the tire. »
Do you think KTM is now on the same level as Ducati? Can you fight Pecco and fight for the title?
“I think it's the same as last year;; we are very close, but we have not yet shown that we can do it. You know, for me, I feel like I'm kind of 100 percent all the time and I feel like they have a few percent in their pocket when they want to use it. So yeah, I'm waiting for that last little push and we'll try again. »
What do you think of Marc Marquez's performance in his Ducati debut and given how it's going, do you think he's a title contender or not?
" I think that Pecco summed it up perfectly.«
Results of the Qatar Grand Prix at the Losail circuit:
Credit rankings: MotoGP.com
