Brad Binder

Brad Binder (born 11 August 1995) is a South African Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He is most-known for winning the 2016 Moto3 World Championship. In November 2019 he was confirmed as Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider in MotoGP class for the 2020 season, replacing Johann Zarco who had abandoned his factory ride earlier during that year.

Brad Binder
Binder at the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix
Nationality	South African
Born	(1995-08-11) 11 August 1995 Potchefstroom, South Africa
Current team	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Bike number	33
Website	Brad Binder 33
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2020– Manufacturers KTM Championships 0 2023 championship position 4th (293 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 90 2 11 0 4 925 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2017–2019 Manufacturers KTM Championships 0 2019 championship position 2nd (259 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 52 8 15 1 3 585 Moto3 World Championship Active years 2012–2016 Manufacturers Kalex KTM (2012) Suter Honda (2013) Mahindra (2013–2014) KTM (2015–2016) Championships 1 (2016) 2016 championship position 1st (319 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 88 7 20 6 7 677 125cc World Championship Active years 2011 Manufacturers Aprilia Championships 0 2011 championship position NC (0 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 5 0 0 0 0 0

Previously, he had competed in the Moto2 class during 2019, with the Ajo KTM team, finishing the championship in second place. Prior to moving up into Grand Prix level, Binder contested three seasons of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, with a best finish of fifth overall in the championship standings.

At the 2016 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix in Jerez, Binder became the first South African to win a motorcycle Grand Prix since Jon Ekerold won the 350 cc class at the 1981 Italian motorcycle Grand Prix. From 2017, Binder raced in the Moto2 class having agreed to a deal with Ajo Motorsport.

Binder's younger brother Darryn is also a motorcycle racer, and competed alongside Binder in Moto3 in both 2015 and 2016.

Binder became the first, and so far, the only South African to win a MotoGP championship race at the 2020 Czech Republic motorcycle Grand Prix, also becoming the first rider to win with KTM in the premier class, as well as being the first rookie to win in MotoGP since Marc Márquez at the 2013 Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas.

Career

Early career

He began his motorsports career in go-karting in 2003. In 2005, he switched to two wheels, immediately winning several titles in the 50cc, 125cc and 150cc categories. In 2008, he made his international debut, competing in the Aprilia Superteens Series, a British competition. In his first race he finished in second place, but in the second race he crashed. In 2009, he raced in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup finishing 14th, in 2010 he finished 5th, and in 2011, he finished 7th.

125cc/Moto3 World Championship

RW Racing GP (2011–2012)

Binder started his Grand Prix career in the 125cc class riding an Aprilia for RW Racing GP in the 2011 season with his bike number as 14. Binder finished the season pointless, with his best position being a 17th place in Indianapolis.

In 2012, he switched to the Kalex KTM with his bike number changed to 41. Binder's first Moto3 point came at the 2012 Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix. 2012 was a crash-filled season for Binder, with seven crashes. Binder scored four times in the season, with his best result of fourth place coming in Valencia. He finished the season at 21st place with 24 points.

Abrogio Racing (2013–2014)

In 2013, Binder switched from Kalex KTM to Suter Honda and later to Mahindra with the team Ambrogio Racing. 2013 was a consistent year for Binder; he scored in 14 out of the 18 races, his best result being a fourth place at Spain; he finished the final standings at 13th place with 66 points. In 2014, he improved with 2 podiums to 11th place.

Red Bull KTM Ajo (2015–2016)

In 2015, Binder again switched teams to the KTM factory-supported Ajo Motorsport. His first season on the new machine was largely positive with regular points finishes and 4 podiums leading to an overall 6th place finish.

Binder in 2016

In the 2016 season, he built on this success with 7 wins and 14 podiums en route to his first world championship, with a 142 point margin over 2nd place.

Moto2 World Championship

Red Bull KTM Ajo (2017–2019)

2017

In 2017, Binder moved up to the Moto2 class, continuing with Red Bull KTM Ajo. In his first season he achieved 3 podiums on the way to 8th place in the riders' standings; despite having an injury and being forced to miss a few rounds.

2018

In 2018, Binder improved with 3 wins and consistent points finishes to achieve 3rd place in the championship.

2019

In 2019, after a difficult start to the season for KTM with the new Triumph engine, Binder took 5 wins and 9 podiums to finish in 2nd place as the best KTM rider, just 3 points off champion Álex Márquez.

MotoGP World Championship

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (2020–present)

2020

Binder racing in 2020

Binder made his MotoGP debut with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team in the 2020 season. Binder won his first MotoGP race at the third round of the season in Brno. This was also the first race win for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team in the premier class.

2021

Binder, along with KTM, had a rough start to the 2021 season. Despite this, he maintained top ten positions and got into the top 5 four times, with two 5th places at Portimao and Mugello and two 4th place finishes at Sachsenring and Assen.

Binder scored a surprise home track victory for KTM at the Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix when, with 5 laps remaining and rain beginning to fall, he decided to take the chance of finishing the race on slicks while most other leading riders chose to pit and swap to motorcycles fitted with wet tires. The gamble paid off and despite extremely slick conditions and mostly ineffective brakes due to the wet and cold track surface, he was able to withstand a late charge by Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia and win the race.

2022

Binder stayed with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team for a third consecutive season for the 2022 World Championship. He started off the year with an overachieving 2nd place finish at the Qatar Grand Prix. From then on, Brad has been a consistent top 10 finisher, with a tendency to perform better in race trim than in qualifying trim, as has been the case with his teammate Miguel Oliveira. He attained his first ever top 3 qualifying result in MotoGP at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, which he followed up with his second podium finish of the season, in 2nd position.

2023

Binder signed a contract with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in June 2021, to remain with the team for the 2023 World Championship and 2024. He showed his class by winning the Sprint race in Argentina (2023) at the 2nd race of the season coming from 15th on the grid.

On the weekend of the 2023 Austrian round, Binder extended his contract, which keeps him there until the end of 2026.

Career statistics

Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Pos	Pts
2009	SPA1 13	SPA2 10	ITA Ret	NED 16	GER Ret	GBR 15	CZE1 11	CZE2 14							14th	17
2010	SPA1 4	SPA2 Ret	ITA 3	NED1 7	NED2 7	GER1 2	GER2 2	CZE1 7	CZE2 4	RSM Ret					5th	109
2011	SPA1 2	SPA2 Ret	POR1 1	POR2 17	GBR1 15	GBR2 Ret	NED1 10	NED2 20	ITA 10	GER1 2	GER2 9	CZE1 12	CZE2 10	RSM Ret	7th	95

CEV Buckler Moto3 Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Pos	Pts
2012	Suter Honda	JER	NAV	ARA	CAT	ALB1	ALB2	VAL 1	17th	25

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
2011	125cc	Aprilia	RW Racing GP	5	0	0	0	0	0	NC	–
			Andalucía Banca Cívica
2012	Moto3	Kalex KTM	RW Racing GP	17	0	0	0	0	24	21st	–
2013	Moto3	Suter Honda	Ambrogio Racing	11	0	0	0	0	46	13th	–
		Mahindra		6	0	0	0	0	20
2014	Moto3	Mahindra	Ambrogio Racing	18	0	2	0	1	109	11th	–
2015	Moto3	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	18	0	4	0	3	159	6th	–
2016	Moto3	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	18	7	14	6	3	319	1st	1
2017	Moto2	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	15	0	3	0	2	125	8th	–
2018	Moto2	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	18	3	3	1	1	201	3rd	–
2019	Moto2	KTM	Red Bull KTM Ajo	19	5	9	0	0	259	2nd	–
2020	MotoGP	KTM	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	14	1	1	0	2	87	11th	–
2021	MotoGP	KTM	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	18	1	1	0	0	151	6th	–
2022	MotoGP	KTM	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	20	0	3	0	1	188	6th	–
2023	MotoGP	KTM	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	20	0	5	0	1	293	4th	–
2024	MotoGP	KTM	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	18	0	1	0	0	206*	6th*	–
Total				235	17	46	7	14	2187		1

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125cc	2011	2011 Indianapolis			5	0	0	0	0	0	0
Moto3	2012–2016	2012 Qatar	2014 Japan	2016 Spain	88	7	20	6	7	677	1
Moto2	2017–2019	2017 Qatar	2017 Australia	2018 Germany	52	8	15	1	3	585	0
MotoGP	2020–present	2020 Spain	2020 Czech Republic	2020 Czech Republic	90	2	11	0	4	925	0
Total	2011–present				235	17	46	7	14	2187	1

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pos	Pts
2011	125cc	Aprilia	QAT	SPA	POR	FRA	CAT	GBR	NED	ITA	GER	CZE	INP 17	RSM	ARA	JPN 20	AUS 21	MAL Ret	VAL Ret				NC	0
2012	Moto3	Kalex KTM	QAT Ret	SPA Ret	POR 11	FRA Ret	CAT Ret	GBR 17	NED 20	GER Ret	ITA 24	INP Ret	CZE 20	RSM 16	ARA 16	JPN Ret	MAL 12	AUS 14	VAL 4				21st	24
2013	Moto3	Suter Honda	QAT 12	AME 9	SPA 4	FRA 8	ITA 14	CAT 12	NED 15	GER 9	INP Ret	CZE Ret	GBR Ret										13th	66
		Mahindra												RSM 18	ARA 12	MAL 11	AUS 15	JPN 10	VAL 12
2014	Moto3	Mahindra	QAT 15	AME Ret	ARG 14	SPA Ret	FRA 14	ITA 9	CAT 6	NED 9	GER 2	INP 9	CZE 6	GBR 15	RSM 6	ARA 8	JPN 3	AUS 15	MAL Ret	VAL 9			11th	109
2015	Moto3	KTM	QAT 10	AME 5	ARG 5	SPA 3	FRA Ret	ITA 10	CAT 9	NED 7	GER 7	INP 8	CZE 3	GBR Ret	RSM 5	ARA Ret	JPN 17	AUS 3	MAL 2	VAL 4			6th	159
2016	Moto3	KTM	QAT 2	ARG 3	AME 3	SPA 1	FRA 1	ITA 1	CAT 2	NED 12	GER 8	AUT 2	CZE Ret	GBR 1	RSM 1	ARA 2	JPN 2	AUS 1	MAL 17	VAL 1			1st	319
2017	Moto2	KTM	QAT 20	ARG 9	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA 10	CAT 17	NED 13	GER 7	CZE 12	AUT 7	GBR 9	RSM 4	ARA 5	JPN Ret	AUS 2	MAL 2	VAL 3			8th	125
2018	Moto2	KTM	QAT 6	ARG Ret	AME 6	SPA 6	FRA 9	ITA 6	CAT 6	NED 7	GER 1	CZE 6	AUT 6	GBR C	RSM 8	ARA 1	THA 4	JPN 5	AUS 1	MAL 8	VAL Ret		3rd	201
2019	Moto2	KTM	QAT 12	ARG 6	AME Ret	SPA 5	FRA 4	ITA 15	CAT 11	NED 2	GER 2	CZE Ret	AUT 1	GBR 3	RSM 6	ARA 1	THA 2	JPN 12	AUS 1	MAL 1	VAL 1		2nd	259
2020	MotoGP	KTM	SPA 13	ANC Ret	CZE 1	AUT 4	STY 8	RSM 12	EMI Ret	CAT 11	FRA 12	ARA 11	TER Ret	EUR 7	VAL 5	POR Ret							11th	87
2021	MotoGP	KTM	QAT 14	DOH 8	POR 5	SPA Ret	FRA 13	ITA 5	CAT 8	GER 4	NED 12	STY 4	AUT 1	GBR 6	ARA 7	RSM 9	AME 9	EMI 11	ALR 10	VAL 7			6th	151
2022	MotoGP	KTM	QAT 2	INA 8	ARG 6	AME 12	POR Ret	SPA 10	FRA 8	ITA 7	CAT 8	GER 7	NED 5	GBR 11	AUT 7	RSM 8	ARA 4	JPN 2	THA 10	AUS 10	MAL 8	VAL 2	6th	188
2023	MotoGP	KTM	POR 6	ARG 171	AME 135	SPA 21	FRA 62	ITA 5	GER Ret6	NED 45	GBR 39	AUT 22	CAT Ret4	RSM 145	IND 44	JPN Ret2	INA 6	AUS 4	THA 32	MAL Ret5	QAT 57	VAL 32	4th	293
2024	MotoGP	KTM	QAT 22	POR 4	AME 9	SPA 6	FRA 8	CAT 8	ITA 106	NED 66	GER 98	GBR Ret4	AUT 57	ARA 46	RSM 47	EMI 196	INA 8	JPN 6	AUS 7	THA 69	MAL DNS7	SLD	6th*	206*

* Season still in progress.

External links

• Brad Binder at MotoGP.com
• Brad Binder at AS.com (in Spanish)
• Official website (Old website)
• Official website (Current website)