Unlike team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, Binder began to make serious progress during Sunday’s Spanish MotoGP, however, a crash at turn two squandered any hope of fighting for points.
Binder, who started the Grand Prix from last place, moved up to 17th after just a couple of laps, but after attempting to push on the pace with fellow Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli in front, that’s when the error came.
Binder surprised by crash, feels he did nothing wrong
“I’m super disappointed that I crashed,” added the ex-Moto3 rider. “Honestly, I’m still more happy with this race than Portimao. I’d rather crash out of fighting amongst the other guys than riding around last.
“At least in this race in the first laps, I was able to fight with the other guys and I felt like I was faster.
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“I managed to make a nice pass on Marini at turn nine and was just behind Morbidelli and I think I got a little bit too excited.
“Going into turn two, I didn’t do anything too crazy, I had a little movement in the rear and the front closed. I wish I could have hung around a couple more laps and followed Morbidelli, but it is what it is.
“The grip was quite low even in warm-up. I felt I was doing a good job of getting the power down, I passed quite a lot of guys in the first laps already and I was feeling really strong. Overall, I feel like I know exactly what I need to work on.”
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Despite the fall, Binder was clearly showing more potential than at round five in Portimao.
Yes Binder finished just a second behind Takaaki Nakagami during said Portuguese Grand Prix, however, that margin was as a result of being overtaken by the Japanese rider who needed to recover from an early crash.
In terms of riders who finished the race without any dramas, fellow rookie Remy Gardner was a convincing 10 seconds clear of Binder.
But that wasn’t the case in Jerez, at least during the opening flurry of laps before his mistake.
More crashes plague Binder during MotoGP testing
Hoping to put his race fall behind him, Monday’s one-day Jerez test unfortunately saw Binder crash twice.
‘I was finding the limits’ said Binder, who will need to eradicate these sorts of errors when it comes to the next few rounds.
Speaking after the test, Binder added: “It was nice to finally be able to have another day at the track after the race weekend once you got all the information and you want to test on different things.
“It was nice to try some different setups and work on my riding. Unfortunately, I had two crashes today, trying to improve my riding style. It’s unfortunate, I was definitely finding the limits.
“Anyway, we’ve got to try some things. We have a lot of things we can look over and compare throughout the week and when we arrive in Le Mans, we’ll try to put everything we’ve tried today together.”
‘I feel the bike is a bit more mine’ claims fellow rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio
One of two rookies yet to score points in MotoGP (the other being Raul Fernandez), Di Giannantonio is another rider who needs to find more pace over the coming rounds.
The Italian tested a new fuel tank during the Jerez test which he called ‘a little bit more slender’ than the previous version.
“We needed this test and we made the most of it,” claimed the former Moto2 rider. “The work done during the weekend has naturally carried over to the test; we concentrated on the feeling with the bike and I think it was a good day.
“Even though the times don’t show it (the wind affected his outing on soft tyres), I feel the bike is a bit more mine.
“I was also able to try a new tank, a little bit more slender: as it often happens, I liked it on some aspects and liked it less on others.”