From benchmark to question mark: Brad Binder's 2025 with KTM is a step back

There are several MotoGP riders who didn’t shine as expected this year. Much attention is on Pecco Bagnaia because of the “awkward” garage mate, but KTM also has its rider who has become a question mark. Brad Binder, up to a couple of years ago the benchmark for the Austrian brand, has literally dropped off the radar. Not that his results are terrible—let’s add that all riders have had problems this year with the RC16—but the step back by the brand’s veteran, particularly between 2024 and this year, is clear...

The South African, the 2016 Moto3 world champion with KTM colors, stepped up to the premier class in 2020 again with the Austrian brand, which has defined much of his career. Even in that first year he scored his first victory, then repeated it in 2021 and in KTM’s most important GP, the Red Bull Ring. In 2022 the podiums increased, and in 2023 they became a constant both in Sprints and on Sunday race days. At the end of that year came the multi-year deal with KTM, locking him in through the 2026 season. Anyone expecting a further step forward in 2024 was certainly disappointed, since Brad Binder was truly a protagonist only in the opening GP in Qatar with a double podium. And in 2025, despite all of KTM’s issues—repeatedly highlighted especially by Pedro Acosta over the year—the South African has effectively confirmed a sort of “reverse gear.”

Looking at KTM’s riders from the just-completed season, despite all the financial difficulties that inevitably also affected the technical side, we can notice something off-key. Teammate Pedro Acosta, only in his second year on the RC16, finished 4th in the championship with a large number of podiums in the second half of the season. Enea Bastianini (who slumped after crew chief Giribuola’s in-season exit) still took his first podium with KTM. We can even stretch the point by recalling Maverick Vinales and that podium later stripped for tire pressure. The one missing is Brad Binder, KTM’s veteran, the rider who knows the RC16 better than anyone mentioned, having been with the team since 2020. Yet his best was a 4th place in the Indonesia GP. We’ll see if, with greater support from KTM—requested by all four riders—the situation changes in 2026.