Following Brad Binder’s Moto3 World Championship coronation at Aragon, he takes on the Japanese GP in the first of three consecutive rounds outside of Europe. Bo Bendsneyder looks to adapt to an unfamiliar track.

Brad Binder comes into the fifteenth round of the 2016 season as the newly crowned Moto3 World Champion, after an historic weekend at the Aragon GP. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider can now focus on enjoying himself and adding to his win tally for the season, starting with the Japanese GP. The round at Motegi is the first of three races in Asia. Bo Bendsneyder begins one of his biggest challenges of the year, taking on three consecutive events at three circuits completely unfamiliar to him.

Binder has two records in his sights in the Moto3 class: The number of wins -7- and points -325- in a single season. Last season at Twin Ring Motegi he finished outside the points (17th), having crashed when riding third. In 2014 he completed the rostrum in the Moto3 race.

Bendsneyder takes on three completely new circuits to him in the space of three weeks. The rookie will first try to make a quick adaptation to Motegi, with the aim of keeping adding points to keep him in the Top 15 overall.

In recent years, Red Bull KTM Ajo have one win (Danny Kent in 2012) and a podium (Miguel Oliveira in 2015) at the Japanese Grand Prix. This year’s race will be held at 11:00am local time on Sunday.

Circuit information – Twin Ring Motegi
Length: 4.801 m / 2.983 miles
Width: 15 m
Left corners: 6
Right corners: 8
Longest straight: 762 m / 0.473 miles
Constructed: 1997
Modified: 1997

41 BRAD BINDER
“What has happened over the past two weeks has been amazing. After the Grand Prix I had three days with constant phone calls and media duties. It has also been very nice to see the support and messages of congratulations from people. Now, it’s time to get back to work, and I am looking forward to getting back on the KTM -it’s been a long two weeks without it! I have promised the team that I will go for it at each remaining round, with no effort spared. The first challenge will be at Motegi, a circuit where last year I was riding well until I fell in the wet. I think the track is pretty good for me. I got a podium there in 2014, so I hope to do that again this Sunday.”

64 BO BENDSNEYDER
“The flyaways are a challenge for me and hopefully we can get great results, but we are facing three tracks that are totally unknown to me. I can’t wait to start for travelling to countries where I’ve never been before. I’ve been watching a lot of races at Motegi from previous years, and I have also played a lot of games on my console to at least learn the corners and their characteristics. That is precisely the most important thing for these three races; learning the best lines as quickly as possible. These three races are all at very different circuits, so I hope everything goes well and that I can learn from three intense weeks.”