South Africa’s Brad Binder says a poor choice in tires hampered his race at the British MotoGP at Silverstone on Sunday where he finished 11th.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Miguel Oliveira finished sixth for his second best result of the year.
The Silverstone race was won by Fransesco Bagnaia.
Binder said after the race he was happy with his start, but that some contact with another bike and wrong tires may have cost him a better performance.
“All weekend we had quite good pace on race rubber but in qualifying we keep trying to make a competitive lap time to be a bit further up,” said Binder.
“I had a really good start (to the race) but unfortunately in turn five I had a bit of contact and lost five positions.
“It put me off the back of the front group and although I caught up again I made a massive mistake with my tire choice.
“I paid for it because I had large drop in the last laps. Sorry to my team because we could have definitely done something good. A great learning experience for us.”
According to Binder’s KTM team, the South African opted for “a medium rear tire on the hottest day of the weekend, which dented his competitiveness”. He crossed the finish line just seven seconds behind winner Bagnaia.
Binder is seventh in the MotoGP points table, with teammate Oliveira 10th.
Results British MotoGP
1 Francesco Bagnaia (ITA), Ducati 40:10.260
2. Maverick Vinales (ESP) Aprilia +0.426
3. Jack Miller (AUS), Ducati +0.614
4. Enea Bastianini (ITA), Ducati +1.651
5. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati +1,750
6. Miguel Oliveira (POR), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +2.727
11 Brad Binder (RSA), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +7.730