Brad Binder now with Mahindra

Binder With Mahindra

The GP Aperol di San Marino e Riviera is the start of a new chapter in Brad Binder’s season. For the remainder of 2013 and for 2014, Brad is now on board the highly competitive, Mahindra powered Suter Bike. Even without any chassis settings or prior data Brad and the team knew that this was the right direction to go and would pay dividends in the latter stages of the season and next year.

It was a slow and steady start for Binder on his Mahindra and he spent FP1 exploring how the bike handled. Being 19^th didn’t worry Brad or the team as the South African was just 1.596 from session leader Maverick Vinales, a very impressive feat for his first time on a new bike.

FP2 saw Brad improve again, returning to the sort of positions he was at the start of the year. Not only did Brad finish as the top Mahindra, he also finished a very impressive 5^th, ahead of championship leader Luis Salom. A massive improvement of 1.7 seconds from FP1 left Brad with a 1.45.214 and just half a second from session leader Alex Rins. Brad was also 3^rd fastest through the first section.

“Yeah, today went really well. The new engine is great, it’s nice to be able to open up the throttle and have the power come out. The KTMs still have a tiny bit more speed than us but we can stick with them in the slip stream and I even overtook a rider down a straight! The bike handles really well too so it’s easy to push. We’ve got some work to do playing with settings but it’s all looking good. It’s good to be really keen again to get on the bike and know we can be up there. Being top Mahindra wasn’t too bad either!”