Brad Binder was one of the unfortunate protagonists of the Indonesian MotoGP Grand Prix. The South African driver received two long lap penalties in Sunday’s race, due to his conduct which we could define as quite “Garibaldina”.
The first penalty came in the initial stages, when he touched and caused Luca Marini, who started from pole but had lost positions with the Mooney VR46 Ducati, to fall. The panel of stewards led by Freddie Spencer penalized him for “causing an accident while overtaking” and for being “ambitious, causing the crash of another driver”, being the second time he has committed this infringement in 2023.
By executing the first long lap penalty, the #33 lost several positions and therefore tried to recover as quickly as possible, while showing that he was quite revved up. This is how, halfway through the race, he also touched Miguel Oliveira, in this case pushing him off the track, but without making him fall. The FIM stewards then imposed a second long lap penalty on him for “a contact with another rider, which did not cause a fall, but produced a negative effect on the other rider”.
Binder also served this second penalty, which however did not weigh too much on his final result. He ranked sixth, 11 seconds behind the winner Pecco Bagnaia, but lost the duel with Marco Bezzecchi for fifth position. However, it was a good placing, made possible by the fact that it was an elimination race, which saw only 14 riders at the finish line.
After the race, the driver from Potchefstroom, who had instead been dropped by Aleix Espargaro in the Sprint, explained what happened, admitting his guilt in both cases and therefore accepting the two penalties. “It was a complicated weekend. I only managed to pick up a bit of pace in the race. I tried to adapt to the medium tyre, which I hadn’t used since Friday”, he began, before recounting what happened with Marini.
“Unfortunately at turn 8 I had a jolt, then I braked and the lever went down completely: I panicked, because I had two riders in front of me. I could only rely on the rear brake and that’s not enough. I’m very sorry for having ruined Marini’s race, so I apologize to him and his team”, said a visibly displeased Binder.
“After that, I pushed as hard as I could to recover and perhaps when I caught Miguel I was a little too charged up. I deserved the two penalties. You have to take responsibility for not putting anyone in danger. I’ve already had the brake problem in the past, but I thought it was resolved,” he concluded.
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