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Brad Binder told of his relief after Francesco Bagnaia escaped serious injury in the Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona, describing the moment he ran over the prone Ducati star as ‘every rider’s worst nightmare’.
Bagnaia high-sided from his machine at the first chicane on the opening lap while leading, with Red Bull KTM’s Binder having no time to take evasive action.
He ran over Bagnaia’s legs in the shocking incident, but fortunately it later emerged that the MotoGP World Championship leader had not suffered any fractures.
Binder, who was forced out of the restarted race with a technical problem on the factory RC16, said: “A crazy afternoon. I had a really good launch but through the exit of Turn 2 I did not see a thing until I arrived to Pecco and his bike in the middle of the track.
“I clipped something on his bike, went to miss him and couldn’t. I ended up falling.
“Thank goodness I saw him moving, so I hope he is fine. It’s every rider’s worst nightmare.”
Binder, fourth in the Sprint race at Catalunya on Saturday, added: “We restarted the race and I brought last tyre we had up to temperature but then we had a technical issue.
“My only priority today is that I did not seriously hurt anybody. As for the result, it is what it is.”
Binder remains fourth in the championship after the 11tt round, 23 points behind VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi in third.
His KTM team-mate, Aussie Jack Miller, finished eighth in the main race at Catalunya after lining up in 13th, flashing over the line only 0.059s down on Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.
“We made some massive changes today and it took me a good five, six laps to get used to them and manage these low grip conditions,” Miller said.
“I have to apologise to the guys because they have been working their butts off to help us and to save the tires. We turned the bike upside down and I got the feeling back.
“I made a couple of mistakes but then started going quite strong. I didn’t realise it was the last lap because I wanted to manage the tyre but it was fun and I could ride the way I wanted. I
“It was cool. Misano is the opposite of here, a lot of grip, so we’ll see what we can do there.”
