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Binder explains “super-stupid” Misano MotoGP sighting lap crash

Brad Binder labelled his crash on the sighting lap for the MotoGP Emilia Romagna Grand Prix “super-stupid” having been caught out by cold brakes on the way to the grid.

Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

The KTM rider endured a wretched weekend at Misano having failed to crack the top 16 across practice and going on to qualify a disappointing 19th while team-mate Miguel Oliveira was fifth.

Binder crashed at the Turn 10 right-hander on his way to the grid ahead of the race start having elected initially to run the hard front tyre – the same compound both Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller crashed out of the race using.

The KTM rider says this was down to him trying to warm-up his front tyre but ultimately getting caught out by the temperature in his carbon brakes, with the crash sending him to the back of the grid for the start.

“Fuck, I don’t even know where to start to be honest. What a weekend,” Binder said.

“Sometimes you get those weekends where everything just seems to not quite go how you planned.

“Just when you feel like it’s getting there, then you take a good step back or have a little setback.

“Honestly, I don’t really have anything to say other than sorry to the team.

“Not too much to say. Warm-up was half/half conditions, didn’t really do any good dry laps this weekend.

“Went straight into the race feeling quite confident, I decided to go with the H front and going to grid I was trying to put some good heat into it to see how it felt and I made a huge mistake.

“I didn’t get my brakes hot and with the carbon brakes it’s normal when you pull them there’s a moment that it heats up and when it heats up, they really brake hard.

“Unfortunately, this moment happened in the right hand corner and soon as I grabbed the brake it made the temperature come to the front and locked the front wheel and I crashed.

“So, crashing on the sighting lap is a first time for me.

“I hope the last. It definitely was not good at all, I need to say sorry to my team again for that super-stupid mistake.

“Fortunately, I was able to start the race in last position, which didn’t change much, I only went three places back I think.”

Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Binder would switch to the medium front for the race start, but his woes continued when he was hit with a long lap penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits – something which baffled him as he has no idea where he was running out wide.

“I had an amazing start but my tyres were cold the first two laps because waiting to go out of the pitlane and getting to the grid the tyres were ice cold and I couldn’t really push at all in the beginning,” he added after finishing the race 11th after his problems.

“And just when I started to feel like I was getting into a rhythm and getting my pace up, I got a long lap penalty which I actually didn’t know where I was touching the green.

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“I didn’t notice once I was touching the green, to be honest.

“So, that was a bit of a shock to me. I did the long lap penalty, after that I struggled a lot to get back into my rhythm.

“I started to find my way again and just struggled with grip at the end.

“I think I hurt my tyre a little bit. Not a good weekend for us, I need to look back and understand the mistakes I made and learn from them.”

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