Fermin Aldeguer clashes with Brad Binder in Portimao – parts fly, but there are no penalties – What both have to say about the duel and the contact
Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini-Ducati) and Brad Binder (KTM) were locked in a close battle at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Portimao. Binder was sixth when Aldeguer attacked on lap nine. The KTM rider fended off the first attack.
Aldeguer then braked on the inside of Binder in turn 5. This resulted in contact, causing parts to fly through the air. Both were able to continue without any problems. Aldeguer had secured his position.
The race commissioners treated the contact as a normal racing incident. No penalty was imposed. “If a penalty had been imposed, I would have understood it, of course,” said Aldeguer after the race. “But for me, it was a racing incident.”
“We were fighting for sixth place at that moment, but it was nothing extreme. I was just trying to overtake him. He closed the line and there was a slight contact. I think he’s always a bit defensive, yes, and it’s normal when you make contact.“
Aldeguer eventually finished fourth, with Binder coming in fifth. The South African also takes a relaxed view of the incident: ”To be honest, I hardly felt anything. I just heard that something had broken. But yes, there was nothing dirty about it at all.”
Bumping, barging and twitching @BradBinder_33 @Aldeguer54 PortugueseGP pic.twitter.com/ImDYrstK45
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“We’re fighting hard, after all. I tried to catch up with him again after that, but he was just a little too fast for me. I couldn’t quite keep up. But yes, from 14th to fifth place, I have to be satisfied with that. It’s an improvement.“
So both riders were fine with the overtaking maneuver. Aldeguer emphasizes: ”We didn’t talk, he didn’t say anything to me either. I think it was a good duel – one of those that add a little spice to a race.“
”For me, it was just a racing incident. In the end, it was a contact that benefited me. But if it had been the other way around, I wouldn’t have complained to the race director.“
The best rookie of the year has already shown some overtaking maneuvers at the limit and has earned himself a certain reputation. But Aldeguer says: ”I’m not aggressive. My style is pretty clean and easy to read, I’m not overly hard.“
”But it’s true that I’ve found the limit for overtaking on the MotoGP bike. If you analyze it, I’m probably one of the riders who has overtaken the most this year. That’s positive because I had difficulties with that in Moto2, and now I’ve improved a lot.”