Brad Binder told why Fabio Di Giannantonio did not deserve a penalty for their Catalan Sprint crash

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Brad Binder was “so unlucky” to be taken out at the start of the Sprint at the Catalan Grand Prix, but Neil Hodgson believes Fabio Di Giannantonio did not merit a penalty.

VR46 ace Di Giannantonio accidentally took Binder of KTM out at the very start of Saturday’s Sprint Race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Di Giannantonio saw a space to attack on the apex of Turn 1 as he tried to improve from sixth place on the grid, but he tagged Binder.

Binder had only qualified in eighth place earlier on Saturday as KTM teammate Pedro Acosta scored pole for the Catalan GP. But a fast start from the South African saw him rise up to P6 as the field arrived into Turn 1, just for his Sprint at the Catalan GP to then meet a quick end.

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Neil Hodgson feels Fabio Di Giannantonio’s crash with Brad Binder was a ‘racing incident’

Di Giannantonio clipped Binder’s handlebars as the riders all jostled for position into Turn 1, which knocked the KTM rider into a fall. Honda ace Joan Mir was also an unfortunate victim of their crash on the outside, as Binder’s bike slid into the Spaniard’s path and took him out.

READ MORE: Marquez beats Acosta to win the Catalan Sprint, as Martin crashes again

Binder had tried to be cautious through Turn 1, as the South African was not in a position to attack the riders in front of him into the right-hander. But he found Di Giannantonio’s VR46 Ducati on his inside when the KTM racer turned in, as the Italian saw a gap he could attack.

Given the incident occurred at the very start of the Sprint at the Catalan GP, Hodgson feels convincingly that Di Giannantonio did not deserve a penalty for the crash, despite it taking Binder and Mir out. Instead, Hodgson simply puts the collision down as a “racing incident”.

Hodgson said on TNT Sports 2 (16/05, 14:10): “That’s so unlucky. [It is] not intentional, [it is a] racing incident. It gets tight into Turn 1. We’ve seen it so many times. And, of course, Joan Mir is going to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and get collected.

“There’s not a lot you can do. You have to be aggressive, you have to be forceful, you have to look forward [and] you can’t be looking sort of peripherally. You’re not aware of what people are doing. You just try to attack.”

Binder has looked the best he has for years in Barcelona this weekend, with the KTM rider producing a flurry of fast lap times in practice. But he failed to convert that promise into a strong qualifying result compared to Acosta, after making Q2 for the second time this year.

KTM will never know what Binder’s race pace during the Catalan Sprint would have looked like had he not been taken out at Turn 1 by Di Giannantonio. Acosta showed that he could hold onto the front tyre to try to fight back, but he still lacked compared to Alex Marquez.

Gresini star Marquez got past Acosta early in the Catalan Sprint, as did Trackhouse ace Raul Fernandez, but the KTM rider fought back against his fellow Spaniards to ultimately get P2. Were it not for Marquez’s acceleration with the Ducati GP26, Acosta could have even won.