It wasn’t an easy weekend for the official KTM riders, who after having suffered defeats against the rookie Pedro Acosta (and not only) arrived in Jerez with a great desire to do well. In 2023 they finished on the podium in both races, with Brad Binder winning the Sprint and then finishing second in the long race, and Jack Miller twice third. This year they were not as competitive and were also the protagonists of some controversial episodes.
On Saturday in the Sprint there was a Binder-Bagnaia contact with Pecco who then fell and accused the South African driver of having closed the vein, performing a senseless manoeuvre. His accusation was rejected by Brad, convinced that he had the space to try to overtake his rival. In any case, there was no sanction. Racing accident.
MotoGP Jerez, tensions between Miller and Morbidelli
What happened between Miller and Morbidelli on Sunday was also considered a race accident. On lap 18 the Prima Pramac Racing team rider was behind the Australian and took turn 5 on the inside and then ended up causing contact with the Australian, who was slightly further out. Both fell and retreated. There was very little space and from the outside it looked like a somewhat risky overtaking attempt.
Jack didn’t take it well: after getting up from the gravel he was furious towards his colleague and came close to shouting something at him. He was also held back by a commissioner, who prevented the situation from escalating. In any case, the KTM rider explained that he had no intention of putting his hands on Morbidelli: “When Acosta passed me – reports Speedweek – I tried to keep up with him to understand and learn what he was doing differently. Then Morbidelli decided to fit into a space that wasn’t there and for this reason I went to shower early. This wasn’t the way I wanted to end the day. I was frustrated, it’s true, but I didn’t want to hit Franky“.
The Italian driver explained after the race that in fact he didn’t even want to outdo Miller, the two took two slightly different trajectories and then there was contact. There is certainly more responsibility than him, who was behind, but the FIM Stewards Panel established that it was a racing accident and no penalty was imposed.
