It’s been a pretty good few days for the South African sporting world, with their much vaunted national rugby team, the Springboks, winning the Rugby World Cup for a fourth time in their history last Saturday, while on Sunday, Brad Binder proudly flew the flag for the nation at the Thai GP.
The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing star had already collected a Tissot Sprint podium the day prior, and he added to his impressive premier class collection with a P3 finish in a truly epic Grand Prix race. It takes him up to four for the season, and nine in total in MotoGP™.
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The #33's latest effort also sees him create a little bit of history as he becomes his country’s outright podium leader in the World Championship. It takes him ahead of Paddy Driver’s eight, who was the first South African to ride in the premier class and competed in the Championship between 1958 and 1965. Despite not winning a race, Driver still managed to finish third in his final 500cc campaign behind MotoGP™ Legends Giacomo Agostini and Mike Hailwood.
Binder's distinction in being the sole premier class race winner for South Africa stands out. However, the nation boasts a rich history in other classes. Before Binder's Moto3™ title in 2016, Jon Ekerold claimed victory in the 350cc class in 1980, marking the last Championship win for a South African rider. Ekerold's success added to the consecutive three titles for South Africa, with Kork Ballington securing the two previous victories along with two 250cc World Championships.
Binder’s achievement of nine podiums is outstanding and he has been a joy to watch and produced so many unforgettable memories. Among those nine podiums are two victories, the first of which came in 2020 at the Czech GP during his rookie campaign. That win placed him on a list alongside Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo to win a race in their debut season, while Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) added his name to the roll of honour in 2021.
The second win came in 2021 in Austria, when he triumphed after skating around the Red Bull Ring on slick tyres in pouring rain. Fortune favoured the brave that day in an unforgettable flag-to-flag race, and Binder has been waiting patiently to add another win to his name.
He came close on Sunday last, finishing a hair’s breadth behind Martin in Thailand. The South African has been knocking on the door for a while now, and it seems a matter of time before he is back on the top step in MotoGP™ once more. His next chance? That comes in Sepang at the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia on November 12th.