Gardner slams Darryn Binder's Qatar MotoGP "disaster" riding

Reigning Moto2 world champion Gardner battled hard with RNF Racing Yamaha rider Binder, who steps up to MotoGP directly from Moto3 in 2022.  

Gardner got the better of the South African, beating him to the final point in 15th by just 0.012 seconds.

However, the Australian was unhappy with Binder’s riding style, which he felt was “like he was on a Moto3 bike”.  

“It’s nice to get a point, definitely not where we want to be,” Gardner said. “Honestly, the first half of the race I felt quite good and felt quite fast. 

“Definitely struggled to pass guys here, was expecting a bit more speed out of the bike to be honest in the race compared to some other manufacturers. 

“That was kind of a problem for me in the first laps. I was behind Maverick [Vinales] and [Andrea] Dovizioso at one point and I think I had Darryn just in front.

“I didn’t feel bad and felt I could probably go with them. But I had Darryn in between us and I just couldn’t get past him. 

“He was kind of riding like he was on a Moto3 bike, just all over the shop and was coming back on line without looking and going wide. He was just a bit of a disaster to get by him. Unfortunately, I lost that group. 

“Regarding Darryn, hopefully I can catch up with and have a chat with him. These aren’t Moto3 bikes and we’re not fighting for first, we’re fighting for last. So, we don’t need to be riding like complete monkeys out there. 

“It’s his first MotoGP race and he’s jumped straight from Moto3, so hopefully I can have a word with him and it will be better in the future.” 

Darryn Binder, RNF MotoGP Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Binder was baffled by Gardner’s comments and says, for his part, he was simply racing hard for a point. 

“I don’t know what he’s unhappy about,” Binder said when asked about Gardner’s problems. “Me and Remy battled in the race, we passed each other a load of times.   

“And especially in the last lap I gave it a good go, it’s the first race of the year. Sure, we’re only fighting for 15th but at the end of the day I wanted to beat him, I wanted to be the first rookie and I wanted the one point. 

“So, I gave it a good lunge up the inside, I didn’t ride into him or anything. 

“I don’t know, I have to hear what he has to say, I don’t understand exactly what he is meaning. But from my side I was racing.”