Le Mans sees Brad move up to 2nd in the championship with 3rd Sprint Race podium

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing injected some orange color into the first day of the SHARK Grand Prix de France as Brad Binder rode from tenth on the grid to finish second at a packed Le Mans for his third Sprint podium result from five rounds this season.

Le Mans celebrates its centenary this year and the MotoGP series also reached a historic 1000th Grand Prix at a venue fit for the occasion. The 4.2km layout favors acceleration and hard braking and the KTM RC16s were in contention for top of the time sheets from the first laps in northern France.

Brad went directly into Q2. The South African was seven tenths from Pole and accepted 10th place on the grid but full in the knowledge that his starting expertise would help move him into contention. In the Sprint he took advantage of the dispute between Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia to brilliantly pass both rivals out of Turn 4 and occupy 2nd place. Brad tried to catch leader Jorge Martin but made sure of his third Sprint medal (from five Grands Prix in 2023) and the points haul brings him up to P2 in the championship table.

The red light goes out at 14.00 CEST to open 27-laps of racing action on Sunday.

Brad Binder, 10th in qualification, 2nd in the Sprint:

“I knew the start was everything for the Sprint. If I could just cut through and hang with the boys at the beginning then I knew I could run at the front. I gave my best out there today and I have to thank my awesome team because we did an incredible job again. It is clear what we can improve for tomorrow so I’m really looking forward to it: I think we can do a much better job in the long race.”