The people whom we watch doing lap after lap on extremely fast and dangerous race bikes in MotoGP have to work really hard to reach that stage. You don’t become a MotoGP racer overnight. It takes years of experience, riding, and patience to have the opportunity to race in the premier class. Every Moto2 racer dreams of levelling up and racing with the legends. Well, that dream has become a reality for the young Brad Binder.
Binder has signed a contract with Red Bull KTM Tech3 and he’s going to race in the 2020 MotoGP season. The 23-year-old 2016 Moto3 World Champion will steer the KTM RC16 next year after three seasons, 3 victories and 8 podiums – to-date – in the Moto2 category.
Speaking on this, Binder says, “It is incredible to have this opportunity. I want to say a huge ‘thank you’ to KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3, my manager and my family for helping me get to the premier class and to be able to give it a try. It is an amazing feeling right now and a dream come true. When you are growing up then this is what you aim for – to be in the MotoGP class with the best riders in the world with the best bikes – so it is a crazy feeling right now.”
Binder made his Grand Prix debut in 2011 (as a Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race winner) and grabbed his first silverware in 2014. He claimed the 2016 world title in just his second term with Red Bull KTM Ajo (becoming South Africa’s first world champion in thirty-six years and just the third from his country) and graduated immediately to Moto2 with the same team. He raced alongside Oliveira in 2017 and 2018.
In MotoGP, Binder will be the first South African to take to the grid in the four-stroke era and to score significant points since Kork Ballington, Jon Ekerold and Brett Hudson in the early 1980s.
Binder will join Red Bull KTM Tech3 for what will be the team’s second season in ‘orange’ and the early stages of a young project for both the squad and the brand.
