Brad Binder behind pace on KTM at day 2 testing

South African MotoGP rider Brad Binder was behind the pace and his teammate on Thursday at Petronas Sepang Raceway during the second day of testing in Malaysia.

Binder finished the day with a best lap of 1:58:132 and 11th overall fastest for the day.

Last 20mins on the ⏱️ and @37_pedroacosta sits in 6️⃣th with a 1’57.805 while @BradBinder_33 is 1️⃣0️⃣th with 1’58.132!#KTM #ReadyToRace #SepangTest pic.twitter.com/3QGiqjZf50

— RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING (@KTM_Racing) February 6, 2025

Also on the Red Bull RC16 – sporting a newly fitted spoiler, Binder’s teammate Pedro Acosta finished seventh fastest for the day at 1:57:805. Franco Morbidelli recorded the fastest lap of the day in 1:57:210 for the Pertamina EnduroVR46 Racing Team.

Eyebrows have been raised when Red Bull KTM unveiled its 2025 season bike, with the rear spoiler causing unwanted attention, mainly because of the lack of aesthetic appeal.

I hope KTM's new seat unit is fast, because it certainly isn't beautiful 😂 Looks like they're also experimenting with mass dampers, based on the size of that pic.twitter.com/wgU1YRMet1

— Simon Patterson (@denkmit) February 6, 2025

But maybe looks were compromised in favour of aerodynamics at camp Red Bull as they search for the next World Title with Binder at the helm of the Factory Racing team.

Sepang came with its difficulties as well, as the rain entered the mix with around 2 hours left for practice. It didn’t stop much though, as practice went on.

Not without its accidents, with 6-time World Champion Marc Marquez crashing on turn 9 fifteen minutes before the close of practice. Marquez walked away from the crash. The two Red Bull KTM Tech3 racers, Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini finished at the bottom of the pack.

Ducati dominated the top on day two, with the exception of Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha.

Riders will have a final day of ‘shakedown testing’ on Friday to acclimate to the 2025 bike, before heading to the Chang International Circuit in Thailand later this month.

Last season champion Jorge Martin suffered a painful crash yesterday and had to be kept in hospital for 24 hours, according to Aprilia Racing.

Speculation around the cause of the crash circled around the tyres Martin’s team chose to go with during testing, suggesting a softer compound may have avoided such an early crash.

The Aprilia team went on a hard compound tyre during the first day at Sepang.