The three-week summer break has not dampened Pecco Bagnaia’s thirst for victory, determined to demonstrate again and again, as many times as necessary, why he is the mainstay of Ducati and the two-time reigning world champion in the premier category. With an unbeatable weekend, he commanded all the sessions at the Netherlands GP with the exception of the warm up, the Turin native once again spoke on the track everything that is reserved off it. It is the first time in his career that he dominates from start to finish, without cracks, a grand prix from Friday to Sunday, also leading all the laps in the race on both Saturday and Sunday.
His victory at Assen, the cathedral of motorcycling and one of his favourite circuits, underlines the Italian’s great form, who achieved his second consecutive full points in the championship and cut his gap to Jorge Martín to 10 points. The Madrid native, second in the championship, more than three seconds behind the number one, was unable to replicate the finesse and precision of his great rival for the title, but left satisfied after achieving his first podium at the Dutch circuit and maintaining the lead of the World Championship. Enea Bastianini, fourth in the standings, completed the podium after another remarkable comeback from eleventh place on the grid.
Bagnaia, who has this circuit tattooed on his right arm to commemorate his first World Cup victory in Moto3, in 2016, was simply a level above the rest. His numbers here also tell of his love for the only route that has always been present in the 75 years of history of the event: he is the first driver to have three consecutive victories here in the 21st century and his victory now makes him equal with Casey Stoner as the most successful rider on a Desmosedici with 23 wins.
“I have really enjoyed this weekend, we hit the nail on the head and everything went perfectly,” he said in the parc fermé. “You need to be precise, flow, be sweet, go in hard but hold the bike well because it tends to move a lot,” he explained in the previous days to explain his unparalleled pace on a dizzying circuit, full of fast corners. Both Martín and Marc Márquez, teammates, had the data to understand where he was superior to them, but even with this they were unable to answer him. “Pecco was far superior to the rest, and the pace was devastating, a second per lap faster than last year. I can only congratulate him, he was unbeatable,” acknowledged the Pramac rider.
The 93, for its part, frustrated and surprisingly not aggressive this Sunday, could not replicate the pace of the two Ducati leaders and ended up angry because of the minimal pressure. “It’s a mistake for the entire team, and also mine,” commented the Catalan after finishing fourth on the track but finishing tenth after being penalized with 16 seconds for violating the regulations. “The rules are the rules,” he acknowledged after sharing that he exceeded the established limits by a single turn and a tiny margin. Despite this, he maintains third position in the championship and takes out the calculator: “I could have added two quarters and I haven’t added anything.”
The Gresini rider let himself be overtaken when he was in a podium position in order to stay on track and prevent, without success, his tyre pressure from dropping too much. He even caused a bit of a mess on two occasions by braking on purpose and giving the initiative to Fabio DiGiannantonio, from VR46 Racing. Bastianini took advantage of these stops to emerge from the middle of the pack and climb onto the podium, in a fight for the crumbs that Bagnaia and Martín left for the rest. The Rimini rider upset Márquez’s calculations with a pass at the limit that sent him off the track and he crossed almost four seconds behind his two teammates on the podium, in a race with little history in the leading positions.
A couple of mistakes by Maverick Viñales, the only one capable of sneaking in between the Ducatis ahead of him, knocked the Aprilia rider off the podium. In less than a week, at Sachsenring, the competition will be back in Marquez’s backyard with the rider from Cervera looking to confirm his chances of taking the title this year. In Germany it remains to be seen whether Aleix Espargaró and Alex Rins will be able to take part, after both of them were bruised after two crashes in Assen.
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