‘I don’t want to say an excuse’ - Aleix ‘sorry because I ruined Binder’s race’

Aleix Espargaro has taken full responsibility for his collision with Brad Binder during the MotoGP sprint at Mandalika.

14 Oct 2023

Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia MotoGP Mandalika 2023

Espargaro crashed out of the race after losing the front-end of his Aprilia at turn 16 on lap two.

The fall came when trying to make a pass on Binder, which resulted in Espargaro taking down the KTM rider.

Apologetic post-race, Espargaro said: “I felt very strong today and I was very fast. I tried not to lose the race because I saw that Jorge and Maverick were pulling strongly at the front.

“I felt like I could fight for the victory so I tried to overtake [Brad] and made a mistake. There was no space so I had to brake on the dirty part and this is the problem.

“I’m very sorry to Brad and everyone at KTM. I’m very, very sorry. I tried to avoid it but I lost the front in a dirty part of the track.”

Espargaro was unlucky that his crash came when moving onto the dirty part of the track, however, the Spaniard didn’t want to use that as an excuse.

“It’s not that I want to say an excuse because I’m very sorry to Brad,” said Espargaro. “I ruined his race. It’s not his fault or it’s dirty or whatever.

“It’s my fault, but you have to overtake and there is one line and the risk is there. I was surprised I crashed because I was braking well.”

While Espargaro was forced to retire, Binder managed to keep going but finished last - 43 seconds down on race winner Jorge Martin.

“In the race I went with the hard front tyre because I thought it would be better for the race distance,” said Binder.

“In the first two laps it was clear that it needed a bit more time to come up, especially on the left side.

“Unfortunately, this track is quite difficult to overtake at and I was trying to get past Fabio. Then Aleix tried to go past me and locked the front and I got collected.

“Was not really ideal and it was not a good day for us. I picked up the bike and the pace was good even without the wings. I wasn’t the fastest but wasn’t the slowest. Tomorrow is our chance.”

Asked if he felt Espargaro should have been penalised, Binder called it a racing incident and felt as though it was ‘just unfortunate’.

Binder added: “To be honest the line at this track is so narrow and it's so hard to overtake. It’s racing at the end of the day. I was just unfortunate to be collected.”