Brad Binder rues 'couple of millimetres' that denied him podium at Dutch MotoGP sprint race - 'Didn't even notice'
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Published 24/06/2023 at 18:00 GMT
Red Bull rider Brad Binder was denied a podium place at the MotoGP sprint race in Assen by a "couple of millimetres". Binder wasn't aware that he had a warning going into the final lap, and he narrowly left the track in a moment that saw him lose two places and drop to fifth. Fabio Quartararo was the beneficiary and said the penalty was "the only way for me to overtake Brad."
Brad Binder was left rueing misjudging the track by a “couple of millimetres” after he was cruelly denied a podium place at the Dutch Grand Prix sprint race.
Image credit: Getty Images
Brad Binder was left rueing misjudging the track by a “couple of millimetres” after he was cruelly denied a podium place at the Dutch MotoGP sprint race.
The Red Bull rider was handed a three-second penalty on the final lap for exceeding track limits by the tiniest of margins.
That saw him drop into fifth place from third, boosting Fabio Quartararo into the podium places, and the South African admitted afterwards that he was confused at the end of the race.
“Unfortunately, in the race I somehow missed on my dashboard that I had a warning already, so I had no idea that I had already touched the green,” Binder said, per crash.net.
“I got back to the box and I said to my team, 'what's going on? What did I do?' And they said I'd touched the green. And honestly, I was still 100% sure I hadn't touched it once.
“But when I went up to the stewards, I could see where I'd touched. And unfortunately those couple of millimetres - I was just jumping over the tiniest little piece, but I didn't even notice.
“It is what it is, the rules are the rules, and I'll give it a bit more margin tomorrow.”
Marco Bezzecchi claimed his first sprint race victory at Assen and a first pole of the season, finishing ahead of Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia and Yamaha rider Quartararo.
Frenchman Quartararo couldn’t get past Binder in a thrilling battle for the final podium place, but benefitted from the penalty and admitted it was his best hope of a top-three finish.
“I think this is basically all we can do," said Quartararo.
"If we start better, maybe we stay [at the front], at least in this track.
"Some tracks we can start really in front and it won’t matter. But here I started P4 and finished P4. [The penalty] was the only way for me to overtake Brad.
"We are struggling so much and if you see my pace from this morning, I was so fast. In the race I could not show it because I was not able to do my lines."
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