The right time for a real game of chance is precisely when the situation becomes particularly complicated. This must have been going through the minds of Razlan Razali, Johan Stigefelt and Wilco Zeelenberg when they decided to bet on Darryn Binder for 2022. The South African, brother of Brad, who just triumphed with KTM in Austria, is indeed the first choice to occupy one of the Yamaha M1 seats that the Sepang Racing Team will have available. We can no longer define it as Team Petronas as the split from its generous sponsor was announced.
Darryn Binder, as our colleagues from Motorsport.com report, will be doing a test on a Yamaha R1 at the Brno track after winning some kind of internal coordination with the other three riders on the Moto2 and Moto3 team. In 2022, both teams will be withdrawn to focus on MotoGP and Dixon, Vierge and McPhee pay the price. Binder, on the other hand, appears to have been selected to try a gamble Honda took with Jack Miller back in 2015 when the Australian made it to the top class from Moto3, a bet that Livio Suppo wanted at the time.
Binder is not doing so badly in Moto3, he is notorious for his very aggressive riding and for being one of the toughest riders in hand-to-hand combat. Now he has the chance to show his potential on powerful motorcycles with the more than concrete possibility of being catapulted into the seat of an M1 in 2022. There are many ways open for the team’s second M1, and one would lead to Dixon, currently in Moto2 and with a British passport that is literally worth gold for Dorna after Crutchlow’s resignation.
Danilo Petrucci also admitted to having been in contact with the team and given the latest developments, this opportunity for Petrux cannot be ruled out. The team under the Petronas banner had the precise task of promoting young talent. Now, however, after losing the Malaysian sponsor, it will have to recreate its own identity and maybe it would be important to have a “strong” name in the driver line-up in order to attract potential new partners.