Between the accident in Barcelona and the ailments it caused, Pecco Bagnaia missed out on winning the Austrian Grand Prix. On the starting grid of the Catalan Grand Prix he had a 66-point margin over Jorge Martin, but now this gap has been halved, with the Prima Pramac Racing rider winning the Sprint at the Buddh International Circuit, achieving his third consecutive seal after the double in Misano.
Just like in Romagna, however, the world champion managed to limit the damage in India too, placing himself right behind the Madrilenian, despite the feeling with his Desmosedici GP not being exactly optimal, especially when braking. An aspect that is usually his strong point, but which at the moment seems to favor the other Ducatisti.
With great honesty, in the usual interviews the Piedmontese also admitted that it would probably have been difficult to even place second if Marco Bezzecchi had not been involved in a contact with Luca Marini at the start, because then the pace of the Mooney VR46 driver was impressive in the comeback that took him to fifth place overall.
“Second place is certainly the best result we could aspire to today. Yesterday I would have said that we would have struggled, because we lack stability in braking, the bike is really very nervous. I can’t make sure that my strong point is the my strong point. Right now I think Martin is braking harder, because today he made all the difference there”, Bagnaia told Sky Sport MotoGP.
“We have already taken a step forward this morning and we must continue in this direction, but we must be happy that we managed to find a square to finish at least second. We were a bit lucky, because Bezzecchi had a contact at the first corner and lost ground, otherwise we would have finished third. But I’m happy, now we have to continue calmly and carefree as always”, he added.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Today the Sprint was run with the soft tire on the rear, but tomorrow we should move towards the medium, which is usually a tire more suited to Pecco’s characteristics. Even if the choice is not yet obvious at the moment.
“It’s clear that Martin and Bezzecchi have greater potential at the moment. They manage to be more competitive, above all they manage to make a difference in braking in certain parts of the track. This morning we did a good job with the medium, which should be the tire of the race. It certainly has less grip than the soft, but it is more constant. Obviously if Martin and Bezzecchi were to decide to go with the soft, it would be risky to go with the medium. But never say never, I am quite convinced that we will solve the problems for tomorrow that we’re having.”
Even though the advantage over Martin is becoming ever thinner, for the moment the Ducati rider does not seem to be losing the calm that has always distinguished him.
“One thing that helps us a lot is that we are very calm in our work, and for better or worse we always manage to find a solution. Certainly having so many races like this in succession requires you to find a basic set-up that works well. It’s true that the time available is always the same, but you have to feel comfortable with the bike, otherwise the effort doubles. Now we’re going to tracks that I really like, but in the meantime let’s think about tomorrow, which will be important not to lose points again, because it’s happening in Barcelona. But we know what our value is”, he concluded.
#MotoGP #Bagnaia #Tomorrow #important #lose #points