A remorseful Brad Binder apologised to Luca Marini and Miguel Oliveira after colliding with both riders in the Indonesian Grand Prix at Mandalika.
Marini crashed out on Lap 2 of the Sunday MotoGP race after contact at Turn 10 from Red Bull KTM’s Binder, who also later struck Oliveira, forcing the RNF Aprilia rider wide off the track.
Explaining the incident with VR46’s Marini, who had started the race from pole after making his comeback from a broken collarbone sustained at the Indian round, Binder said: “The start was quite okay and I felt quite good. I just went to try and build up and get confidence with the tyre because I haven’t used it since Friday.
“I had a little shake coming out of [Turn] 8 and went to pull my brakes at [Turn] 9, and I pulled it [lever] straight to my fingers, so I never had much braking pressure.
“I wanted to switch it off to try and miss the guys, and the only place to go was inside, so I’m very sorry to the whole Mooney [VR46] team and of course Luca, for wiping him out and ruining his race today.”
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Italian Marini accepted Binder’s apology, putting the collision down to a racing incident.
“Brad made a mistake but it is something that can happen and he went to my office and explained what happened,” he said.
“When he touched the kerb at Turn 9, he had some shaking on the bike and so the front pads on the braking were not in the correct position.
“When he touched the lever, he was without brakes, so it’s just bad luck in this case. It can happen and I appreciate Brad apologising.”
On the contact with Oliveira, Binder accepted full responsibility, admitting he was simply pushing too hard.
“I just started to push and I was fighting to try and gain whatever I could. I hit Miguel going into Turn 2, so really sorry about that,” he said.
“It was 100 percent my fault so I really apologise to him and his team.
“Two Long Laps, but I 100 percent deserved them both.”
Oliveira, who has been linked to the vacant seat in the Repsol Honda team next year with Marc Marquez moving to Gresini Ducati, described Binder’s attempted overtake as ‘aggressive’.
“We had to discover by ourselves very soon during the race that the soft was the wrong choice,” said Oliveira, reflected on his decision to run the softer rear tyre.
“I also had a little touch with Brad that didn’t help as well and I lost a lot of places and around 10 seconds on that lap.
“It was aggressive, but I think he got a Long Lap for it so there’s nothing I can say, it’s what it is.”
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