Factory KTM rider Brad Binder has admitted that his 2025 MotoGP season was “100%” the worst of his premier-class career to date.
Binder had been a regular inside the top five until KTM’s financial crisis unfolded at the end of 2024, with the Austrian manufacturer forced to limit its racing resources.
While KTM struggled on the whole throughout 2025, the South African arguably had the toughest season of its four riders.
Binder was the only KTM rider not to feature on the rostrum in 2025 if Vinales’ tyre pressure penalty in Qatar is excluded, which saw the Spaniard demoted from second.
Though Binder stressed there were some improvements by the end of the campaign, he admitted that he had by far his worst season in MotoGP to date.
”Grand prix racing, maybe, but in MotoGP, 100%,” Binder said via Autosport.
“I feel like I can do a lot better than I did. Things didn’t quite gel this season, for sure.
“I’m super disappointed to finish the season where I did in the championship.
“I feel like we made some small improvements at the end and I was getting a bit faster. However, still not competitive, so I still got some work to do.”
Brad Binder: 2026 MotoGP season ‘going to be good’ for KTM
Despite facing his most challenging MotoGP season to date, Binder expressed optimism that both he and KTM could turn things around for 2026.
One of the biggest issues the 29-year-old faced was the over-reliance on his front feeling, often feeling as if he was riding “on the nose” throughout sessions.
However, Binder admitted KTM discovered a solution for his issues with its upgraded RC16 package at the Valencia test
“The bike felt good,” he explained. “We tried a couple more aero [packages], which seemed to give me a feeling that the bike was a bit more balanced between the two wheels.
“It just made me feel like I was a bit more between the two wheels rather than just on the nose.
“So I liked the feeling of it. The guys can go back and really check everything; see the numbers and see where we can go from there.”
Binder added: “I’ve felt like for a long time now that we’re really riding on one wheel, so I felt really nice to be planted between the two.
“We didn’t have time to really play too much. It was literally just bolting stuff on.
“So I feel like there’s a step there, and it’s going to be good once we have some more time on it.”
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