KTM heads into the new MotoGP season much more confident than one year ago with both Brad Binder and Jack Miller sure that the RC16 has made a clear step forwa🉐rd for 2024.

The Austrian factory proved to b🍃e Ducati’s closest challenger last season, when🌼 Binder was a best-yet fourth in the riders’ standings and KTM second in the constructors’.

That was despite some worrying pre-season pace, but this winter has gone far more s🌟moothly.

A KTM was inside the top four at the end of 3 out of the 5 days of Official testing and, while Binder was only ninth at the end of Qatar, his best lap was blighted by ye🌃llow flags.

More significantly, Binder was one of only two riders (the other being GASGAS rookie Pedro Acostaꦕ) to put in a full race simulation – and was ten-seconds faster than Fabio di Giannantonio’s race-winning pace at last November🍸’s grand prix.

“Today was pretty cool. We managed to squash everything in and tried a few settings as well as a full race simulation,” sa♑id Binder.

“There w🗹as a bit of a drop [in pace] but nothing crazy. It was better compared to the race here last year. That’s the most important."

Th🔴e South African ran out of fuel on the slow-🍌down lap and thanked some Pramac team members for pushing him back to the pits.

“Then I was unlucky to have two yellow flags on my time attack lap, but other than that I was h♈♊appy!" Binder added.

“I thiﷺnk our bike is working really well and we’ve clearly made a step from last season.

“I’m happy with the way the bike’s working. Let’s s🍎ee where we are next week…”

Brad Binder’s Qatar test race simulation:

1'53.292 
1'52.995 
1'53.078 
1'52.979 
1'53.342 
1'53.307 
1'53.130 
1'53.202 
1'52.859 
1'53.216 
1'53.301 
1'53.133 
1'53.088 
1'53.197 
1'53.345 
1'53.268 
1'53.317 
1'53.389 
1'53.395 
1'53.200 
1'53.457 
1'53.432

Binder's average = 1m 53.224s

di Giannantonio’s Qatar 2023 race-winning average (excluding standing start): 1m 53.667s

Binder's team-mate Jack Miller was ele�𝔉�venth on the timesheets.

“A positive last day here and I’m pretty happy where we are with the bike. ဣI made a few setup changes today and I think we are in the right ballpark to ge💙t the season underway.

“All-in-all it’s been a good pre-season and the boys have done a fantastic job thr𓆉ough the winter with the improvements and I believe we have a very competitive bike to go racing.”

That co🐻nclus🥀ion was echoed by team manager Francesco Guidotti.

“The riders were happy. We made a forward step compared to the last time we were here and that was clear with th🅷e lap-times.

“We still need a bit more though, but we are on the way. We are working and we can see t꧙he improvements.

“It’s been a good pre-season and the general pace has been under the lap record both tim♔es and we are also right there.

“We will be ready, and we have to deliver.”

“We are happy and confident with our package,” said technical director Sebastian Risse. “We had a good ♌time here and we are confident for the f♈irst race now.”

Binder finished fifth in last year’s Qatar Grand Prix, aft𝐆er some front tyre issues, while Miller was ninth.

Average lap time during longer runs, Qatar Test - Day 2

• Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) 1m 52.106s (7 laps)
• Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) 1m 52.430s (7 laps)
• Fabio di Giannantonio (Ducati) 1m 52.533s (11 laps)
• Enea Bastianini (Ducati) 1m 52.541s (10 laps)
• Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) 1m 52.951s (9 laps)
• Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) 1m 53.042s (10 laps)
• Brad Binder (KTM) 1m 53.224s (22 laps)
• Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) 1m 53.322s (17 laps)
• Takaaki Nakagami (Honda) 1m 53.544s (14 laps)
• Jack Miller (KTM) 1m 53.614s (8 laps)
• Alex Marquez (Ducati) 1m 53.693s (18 laps)
• Pedro Acosta (KTM) 1m 53.710s (18 laps*)
• Luca Marini (Honda) 1m 53.840s (14 laps)
• Johann Zarco (Honda) 1m 53.876s (10 laps)
• Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) 1m 54.005s (10 laps)
• Augusto Fernandez (KTM) 1m 54.076 (13 laps*)

*Slow laps removed