MotoGP | Bagnaia: “24 points are not many, but it’s time to be aggressive”

When a Sunday goes wrong like Pecco Bagnaia did in Misano, the best thing to do is to turn the page immediately. For the Ducati rider, therefore, it is perfect that after four days it is already time to think about the Indonesian Grand Prix, the first of five events outside Europe that kick off the final sprint that will award the 2024 MotoGP title, which he arrives at with 24 points to recover from Jorge Martin.

For now, the reigning world champion has not yet had answers about what went wrong in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, although the clues point to the rear tire according to him. After reviewing Sunday’s race, however, Pecco has already started to think about the Mandalika weekend, which last year was a key turning point for his second consecutive title in the premier class, given that he took the victory, taking advantage of “Martinator’s” crash, which occurred when the Spaniard had a lead of over three seconds.

“As for what happened in terms of pace, it’s something that’s difficult to comment on. At the beginning of the race it was very difficult for me to push, because I didn’t have a good feeling from the rear tyre. We tried to talk to Michelin, to try as always to work better together,” Bagnaia said in the press conference that opened the weekend.

“Then there was the crash and it’s not the first time it’s happened. It was my mistake, of course, but as soon as you don’t push so hard under braking and your bike is aligned, you tend to lose the front. It’s something we’ve seen before this season, but it was actually a strange Sunday, because I felt great all weekend and then in the race I wasn’t able to repeat the same pace I had in practice.”

“But now we are already focused on this weekend, which last year for me was positive only on Sunday. Now we will try to repeat what we did on Sunday to be competitive for the rest of the weekend too”, he continued.

The 2023 weekend, in fact, was troubled from the start, with exclusion from Q2 and only eighth place in the Sprint. In the long race he literally changed pace, but this time he hopes the music will be different: “It’s a track that I like. A little different to what we are used to in terms of grip, because here we will have a little less. We will have to try to adapt as best as possible, but I like the track and I think we can be very fast”.

Now there are still six events to go in the space of just eight weeks. There is time to recover, but at this stage the watchword seems to be attacking for the Piedmontese: “My approach will be the same as always: I will push, trying to be competitive and win races. Now I am 24 points behind, which is not a lot, but it is not a few either, so I have to be aggressive in this part of the season. Maybe after these two races I will change strategy, but right now I have to push hard”.

Looking ahead, from next year the engines should be frozen also for the 2026 season. Something that however should not be particularly problematic for Ducati: “I’m not too worried, because the engine is definitely not our problem. For next year I think we will take another small step of growth, which will allow us to improve some things that still don’t work perfectly, so it will be good to be able to make a small evolution before the engine is frozen. But I don’t think it will be a problem for us”.

The news of the day is the publication of the calendar for next season, which includes 22 Grands Prix, but spread out more over the year and without the presence of triplets: “I think it’s better than this season’s. The program seems excellent to me, even if I’ve always liked to do the triplet with Japan, Australia and Malaysia. But in the end, even doing two doubles isn’t bad. It could also be interesting to visit some new circuits, so we hope to go there. But it’s also nice to be able to return to Brno”.

Speaking of travel, the Ducati rider was asked how he recovers from a long one like the one that took him from Misano to the island of Lombok in the space of a few days: “I like to arrive as early as possible to get used to the jet lag. On a physical level it’s not that hard, but on a mental level you feel very tired after such a long flight, even if we are lucky enough to fly in business class. Once you arrive you always rest a bit, but you also have to train, so it’s always better to arrive as early as possible to get used to it”.

Finally, he spoke about the very warm welcome that the Indonesian fans reserved for the MotoGP protagonists, even if he was unable to attend yesterday’s parade: “I would have really liked to be with them to see all these fans, but I was stuck in Jakarta. But here people look at you as if you were a hero and you feel like a superstar. It’s a fantastic feeling. The passion they have for our sport is something incredible: if I look at my followers on Instagram, the highest percentage comes from Indonesia and it’s amazing to see such passion”, he concluded.