Brad takes eighth place in Saturday’s Thai Sprint Race

MotoGP landed back in the confines of the Buriram International Circuit but with a fresh focus for the first of 22 Grands Prix in the longest season on record. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder increased his pace on Friday and missed out on Q2 by less than three tenths of a second. The South African eventually rode to 8th in the Sprint

MotoGP returned to Thailand two weeks after the second and last 2025 pre-season test and for the first Grand Prix of the season: the sixth MotoGP event to take place at the flat Buriram venue since the initial visit in 2018. The teams and riders were more than familiar with the fast 3.1km 12-turn layout, even though the temperatures were intense, pushing the mercury up to the mid/high-30s Celsius.

The KTM riders used the Friday practice sessions to get an understanding of tire durability for one of the highest-wearing tracks on the calendar. The heat climbed up on Saturday and set-up work continued in the morning FP2 session. In Q1 Brad almost made the jump to Q2 and was only 0.288 away from the cut. #33 started the Sprint in 14th and fought hard in the top ten to cross the line in 8th.

Brad Binder
14th in qualification, 8th in the Sprint:

“I don’t have the all-out pace unfortunately to make the time attack for Q2 and 14th place was as good as it would get for me today. I went out in the race to try and attack early and fight hard and push to the end but it was really tricky. It was super-hot and the front and rear tyre cooked so quickly. It was so important to try and stay chilled and not over-spin. It was tricky to try and figure things out at the beginning because I ran into trouble after about three laps. Other than that I don’t think I can complain too much. I started 14th and finished 8th in a half-distance race so I would like a lot more but that was the best I could achieve today.”