MotoGP | Bagnaia: “Second zero, it's not my fault, they're spinning…”

Last year Portimao was the scene of the triumph of Pecco Bagnaia, who began his title defense with a double (also becoming the first winner in the history of the Sprints). This weekend however, the Portuguese Grand Prix was disastrous for the reigning world champion, who in an attempt to redeem himself from a difficult Sprint, ended up in the gravel.

Delayed right from the start, the Ducati rider had to defend himself first from Pedro Acosta and then from Marc Marquez. With both of them he engaged in a duel which he failed to win, but with the Gresini standard bearer the outcome was not the best, on the contrary. Marc passed and Pecco, in an attempt to respond to the overtaking, slipped inside into the hole left by his rival. Contact between the two was inevitable and both ended up in the gravel of Turn 5.

Accident immediately put under investigation and a lot of disappointment, when there were only two laps to go until the end of the race: “When Marc arrived, he tried to pass me, but he went long. I tried to cross, he closed his line and we touched. Rightly so, we went to Race Direction together. We are two different riders with two different ideas, therefore different points of view. But we agreed not to give penalties.”

This is the explanation of Bagnaia, protagonist of the accident which had no consequences in terms of sanctions. However, he believes that the crash could not have been avoided in those conditions: “Unfortunately, it's difficult in the hairpin bends. There are situations and situations, but there wasn't time to get the bike up. So it's difficult to avoid it, but the blow that came to me caused the front to close. So I couldn't have done differently.”

The accident occurred when Marc and Pecco were fighting for fourth position, certainly not what the reigning world champion, who found himself in difficulty throughout the weekend, was aiming for. Now Bagnaia has lost the championship lead and is fourth, 23 points behind the new leader Jorge Martin: “I'm talking about the race, which is the most important thing. Unfortunately, my feeling from yesterday and this morning was no longer there. I struggled a bit, I couldn't be as fast as the leaders. I started to have to drive carefully on several things, so we definitely have a point of view for the next races on what to improve. I tried to defend myself, but when Acosta arrived, he was going faster. I tried to cross, but he had more ”.

“Now my balls are spinning, I can't do anything about it,” Bagnaia tells Motorsport.com. “It's the second race which, like last year, ended with a zero. Last year it was my fault, this time due to a racing accident. So the balls are spinning, but we go to the next race trying to do our best. I like the track. We will definitely have to make a step with the feeling, because this weekend was a little more complicated. I have no doubts, I know my potential and what can be done. Unfortunately it happened the way it did, we'll try to do a better job in Austin. I leave with the desire to do better next time.”