Brad Binder turned 28 this week and the South African is intent on wrapping up his birthday celebrations in style at the Austrian MotoGP.
The pressure is on the popular KTM rider to perform at his Austrian factory team’s local circuit.
While world champion Francesco Bagnaia tightened his grip on the overall lead in the last race at Silverstone a fortnight ago, Binder took third place to move fourth overall.
He is the top non-Ducati rider in the standings.
That was a welcome change of luck for Binder who was denied podiums in both the sprint and main race at Assen in June after track limit time penalties.
He returns to the Red Bull Ring, where he won in 2021 for his second, and last, Sunday success.
After taking two sprints this term he feels it’s time for his third career MotoGP victory.
“This is the closest thing I’m going to have for a ‘home’ grand prix,” Binder said at the circuit on Thursday.
“It’s KTM’s home. I always want to have a strong weekend.
“It was an amazing feeling to win here. There’s no better place to get a result right.”
Binder, who has a second and a third on a Sunday this year to add to Saturday sprint wins in Argentina and Spain, continued: “I’m going into the weekend with a lot of confidence. The bike is working exceptionally well lately.
“I’m ready to give it a go and see how this weekend pans out. It’s cool to win two sprint races but it’s been a while since I won on a Sunday. “I need to just make some small tweaks. We’re not far away.
“Many times this year, I’ve been fighting for a podium - even though I’ve made some mistakes, and I’ve made a lot of them, thrown away a few.” Ducati factory star Bagnaia arrives sitting comfortably atop the riders standings.
Although he may have missed out on his fifth success of the season, hustled off the top of the podium in the last lap by Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, Bagnaia emerged as a big winner from Silverstone.
His runner-up spot, with Marco Bezzecchi crashing out, pushed Bagnaia 41 points clear of Jorge Martin, on a Ducati Pramac, with Bezzecchi, of the VR46 Ducati team, a further six points back in third.
Bezzecchi sets pace in Austrian MotoGP practiceMarco Bezzecchi set the fastest time in Friday’s rain-hit practice for the Austrian MotoGP with fellow Italian and world champion Francesco Bagnaia clocking the third best time.
Bezzecchi, racing for Valentino Rossi’s VR46 Ducati satellite team, was 0.044sec faster than Spanish Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales with Bagnaia 0.288sec off the pace.
Bezzecchi, looking to bounce back after crashing out of the British MotoGP at Silverstone, put pressure on world championship leader Bagnaia.
Bagnaia has a 41-point lead on Spain’s Jorge Martin, who was sixth fastest, in the overall standings with Bezzecchi third, a further six points behind.
France’s Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 world champion, clocked the fifth fastest time. Among those relegated to Q1 was former world champion Marc Marquez, with the Honda rider in 13th position.
The top 10 from practice are joined as usual by the fastest two riders from Q1 to determine the first four rows of the grid both for today’s sprint race and tomorrow’s main event.