The MotoGP had a Sunday marked by chaos in Barcelona, and Brad Binder was the one who saved KTM’s result at the Catalonia GP. In a race interrupted twice by red flags and reduced to just 12 laps, the South African finished in seventh position after starting from the pits.
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The weekend looked promising for KTM, especially with Pedro Acosta securing his first pole position of the season. However, technical problems, accidents, and retirements turned the Spanish round into one of the most turbulent of the year for the Austrian team.
Acosta was leading the initial race when he suffered an electronic failure exiting turn 9 and was hit by Álex Márquez. The accident scattered debris across the track and caused the first red flag. Shortly after, a new collision at turn 1 on the restart interrupted the race again.
At the third start of the day, Acosta was again fighting for the top positions but was hit at the last corner while battling for fourth place, ending his participation with a retirement. “It seems we had an electronic problem in the first race. I just want to send strength to Álex Márquez and Johann Zarco, because that is the most important thing today,” said the Spaniard.
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On the other side of the official team, Binder faced technical problems already on the warm-up lap and had to start from the pit lane. Benefiting from the interruptions, he managed to recover throughout the race and secured seventh place. “It was a shame to have to start 20th twice after qualifying eighth. We had bad luck, but also luck with the restarts,” he highlighted.
At Tech3, Maverick Viñales finished 11th and scored his first points in the 2026 MotoGP season, while Enea Bastianini retired on the tenth lap due to power loss. The team boss, Aki Ajo, admitted frustration with the result but praised the performance shown throughout the weekend and reinforced the focus on Monday’s tests before the next round in Mugello.
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