An excellent ride from 14th on the grid to fifth place at the Portugal Grand Prix on Sunday put Brad Binder on course to finish the MotoGP title race inside the top 10.
The Red Bull man earned 12 points in the main race and another one for finishing ninth in the sprint race in Portimao to move up to 145 points and overtake Johann Zarco (144) in 11th place. He is only one point behind 10th placed Raul Fernandez, who withdrew from the Portugal MotoGP after injuring his shoulder during a crash in practice.
With the last round of 2025 coming up in Valencia this weekend, Binder will be keen to finish the season on a high. 11th is the lowest he has finished in the premier class, which came during his rookie season in 2020. He returned four straight top six finishes in his next four seasons.
Brad Binder confident
“I felt I could do something decent after the sprint and the confidence I had. I felt great on the bike. My guys did a great job,” Binder told the KTM website.
“I was able to get a good start and push on right away. It was nice to battle a bit and good also that the changes we made gives a direction for what we need further.”
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Pecco Bagnaia’s retirement in Portimao and Marco Bezzecchi’s win means that the Aprilia man will finish the season in third place behind the Marquez brothers, Marc and Alex. Binder’s team-mate Pedro Acosta only trails Bagnaia by three points going into Valencia and can still pip the two-time world champion for fourth place.
Close call for Moodley
While Brad Binder’s brother Darryn Binder misses the last two Moto2 races of the year due to an arm injury, teenager Ruché Moodley finished the Moto3 race in Portugal agonisingly close to the points. Moodley crossed the line in 17th place, only 0.216 seconds behind 15th placed Nicola Carraro.
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