Binder to replace Syahrin at Red Bull KTM Tech3 for 2020

Brad Binder will make his MotoGP debut in 2020 joining former team-mate Miguel Oliveira at Red Bull KTM Tech3 with Hafizh Syahrin axed from the team.

The 2016 Moto3 world champion currently competes for the factory KTM Moto2 squad and will graduate to the premier class from next season to join Oliveira, his team-mate in Moto2 in 2017 and 2018, which sees Syahrin dropped from the team after two seasons in MotoGP.

Binder, who has taken back-to-back second places at Assen and Sachsenring, is currently eighth in the Moto2 world championship and is the only KTM rider in the top 15 of the riders’ standings following the Austrian brand’s tough start to 2019.

“It is incredible to have this opportunity,” Binder, who finished third overall in the 2018 Moto2 world championship, said. “I want to say a huge thank you to KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3, my manager and my family for helping me get to the premier class and to be able to give it a try.

“It is an amazing feeling right now and a dream come true. When you are growing up then this is what you aim for – to be in the MotoGP class with the best riders in the world with the best bikes – so it is a crazy feeling right now.”

“To be able to sign Brad Binder for our MotoGP project is an exciting moment because he has been with us for five years already and is one of our world champions,” Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsport Director, said. “We have a strong story and connection and we’re really happy that it continues. It is clear we all have a big challenge in front of us and we also feel responsible for him to be able to maintain this good path we have together.

“We also like the fact that Brad has this distinctive riding style that allows him to push a bike and project to the maximum. We feel that he ‘fits’ to us, and we cannot wait to see how he handles and attacks a MotoGP bike.

“I’m sure he can add some extra and special things because he has done that with every motorcycle he has raced so far and it will be a highlight not only for us but for all MotoGP fans.”

Binder will become the first South African to compete in the top class of Grand Prix racing since 2000 having also claimed his nation’s first world title with his Moto3 triumph in 2016.

With Syahrin set to leave the team at the end of 2019, the Malaysian rider is most likely set to return to Moto2 – potentially with Tech3 or Petronas – having competed with the Malaysian team in the intermediate class between 2011 and 2017.