MotoGP™ AT THE RED BULL RING: A HEART-QUICKENING ‘9/10’!

Brad Binder remembers a thrilling 2021 Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich and talks about the Red Bull Ring as MotoGP prepares to send out its echo in Austria once more.

On the 21st August 2022 MotoGP will rush around the curves of the Red Bull Ring for the ninth time since the world championship returned to Spielberg in 2016. Spectacular scenes, last-corner lunges, eye-watering speed, double-headers, and unforgettable victories have quickly defined Austria’s young, reinstated presence in Grand Prix racing.

Merging history and nature with modern, upgraded motorsport facilities: the Red Bull Ring is one of the most distinctive circuits on the MotoGP slate and has been tightly connected with KTM since the opening hours of the 2016 event right up until the glorious conclusion to the 2021 Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich.

Six years ago, KTM held a press conference at Spielberg to announce their maiden premier class project and at the end of that season they’d appeared on the MotoGP grid for their debut outing. By the drop of the checkered flag on Sunday 15th August 2021 Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder had locked the company’s second MotoGP victory at the site. KTM have also rushed to five Moto3 wins and three in Moto2 in that brief eight-GP spell on Austrian asphalt.

Red Bull Ring’s green and imposing Styrian mountain range has witnessed these feats but so has the KTM’s own vibrant ‘hill’ of fans with the deep orange grandstand located on the inside of T7 Graz Turn. From all the memories created to-date perhaps it is Binder’s ballsy late gamble to remain on-track, in the Austrian rain and guide his RC16 with dry-weather slick tires to the line last summer that really sticks in the mind. The South African posted his second career success in the most dramatic and sensational fashion as the skies opened. “I know it was a day when my gamble really paid-off and that’s always cool; there aren’t many times in life when you get a chance to take such a risk and it works-out,” he smiles now, only a few weeks away from MotoGP’s return and for round thirteen of the 2022 campaign. “I guess it is kinda like putting your life-savings on red – or maybe orange! – and hoping it goes well!”

The KTM crowd seated at T7 will get a slightly different view this year. The track between T1 and T2 will now throw a chicane into the layout to lower the average speed in the charge up to turn three. It means that Red Bull Ring will no longer be one of the three fastest circuits in the championship, but the trade-off comes with – hopefully – increased safety. The alteration shouldn’t disturb the challenge of the track too much.

“It’s a strange place because it looks like a simple layout but to go fast at Red Bull Ring is extremely difficult,” Binder reveals. “It is not easy to find those crucial last tenths of a second that you need for the lap-time. There is a lot of hard braking and hard acceleration, and you have a couple of left-hand turns that are quite flowing. So, you need to be as fast as you can through the flowing stuff but also need a bike that stops really well; one half of the track is asking for one setting and the other half needs something different. You have to find a good feeling everywhere and a sensation that you can push in all points.”

Binder’s words carry even more resonance considering his superb record in Austria. “I’ve been 2nd in Moto3 but have won in Moto2 and also in MotoGP so it’s been good to me; I’d like to get a few more wins!”

Red Bull Ring is undoubtedly a thrill to ride, just watch the demands on the race machinery to see that MotoGP stars are constantly searching for limits of adhesion and physics. Aside from this aspect, the Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich delivers in other ways with a busy and eager atmosphere. For the two KTM MotoGP teams, they are at the center of the ‘storm’. “It’s a special race, a home race for KTM, for Red Bull, many members of KTM staff, all the management,” Binder says. “It means you have this big feeling of support. If there is one day in the season where you want to do something special, then it’s there!”

KTM don’t only guarantee thrills and emotion through their motorcycles but through the idea of being a fan, feeling the speed of Grand Prix, hearing the howl of MotoGP and submerging public into the intensity of the show. That’s why the ‘Ultimate Orange MotoGP Experience’ – with exceptional seating and views, Fan Packages, dedicating parking zones and more – is a great and unique way to absorb top-flight motorsport, and the tickets are not only limited to Red Bull Ring but to some of the other compelling MotoGP circuits in Europe.

To be part of KTM’s MotoGP experience at Red Bull Ring, enjoy the KTM Fan Package for both adults and kids and other benefits then click HERE.