Yesterday’s Sprint victory, which had halved its gap in the World Championship, had given Pecco Bagnaia the illusion that he could try to compete with rival Jorge Martin in the Indonesian Grand Prix. The reality, however, was quite different, because the reigning world champion had to deal with another complicated start, even finding himself sixth on the first lap, while “Martinator” ran away towards a success that no one was able to achieve. under discussion.
In the final, however, also favored by the fall of his pit mate Enea Bastianini, the Ducati rider clawed his way to third place with two nice overtaking moves against Franco Morbidelli and Marco Bezzecchi. A result that perhaps at a certain point seemed almost out of his reach, but which puts 21 points between him and the top of the standings, 3 less than last Sunday in Misano, but 9 more than yesterday. Unless a penalty arrives for Pedro Acosta, second at the finish line, but ended up under investigation for tire pressure.
“If we think about the start of the weekend, we didn’t think we would recover points on this track, but instead we recovered three. This is positive, but after yesterday’s race, in which I had a lot of confidence, I was convinced I would be able to get off to a good start. We missed something, but we need to understand what’s happening with the starts, because I was able to do them all well, but now it’s a mess. Today the bike wheelies first and then it spins, so I lost positions again. The first lap, though try not to do any more stupid things, then two others passed me. But considering how tough today’s race was, finishing third is positive,” Bagnaia told Sky Sport MotoGP.
Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing, Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo credit: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“I struggled a lot to pass Bezzecchi, because the GP23 has more traction and I struggled to get close to him. Where he was faster, he just got away from me. Instead, it was less complicated to overtake Morbidelli, because with the same bike it was easier. I also used the lowering gear to have even more thrust in acceleration, then it was an easier overtaking. In any case it was a tough race, so finishing third is positive”, he added.
The feeling is that the switch from the soft to the medium tire on the rear put him in a bit of difficulty, although not as much as on the opening day of the weekend: “On Friday we completely lost the second session for reasons that cannot be said (it seems mention a tire that didn’t work). Then we didn’t use it again until this morning and in the Warm-Up I felt good, although for various reasons I wasn’t able to finish a lap well, partly due to mistakes and a bit because of the traffic. Then in the race I felt good, but it was a madhouse at a certain point, because I was easily overtaken and I had more difficulty staying close to the others when braking, so it was a challenge. quite a complicated race.”
However, it remains that in the early stages he and Enea Bastianini struggled more to make the tire work than the riders around them, but Pecco seems to have his own explanation: “Our bike is extremely competitive, but it takes a couple of laps in more to get the rear tire up to temperature, even compared to the GP23, we noticed this throughout the weekend. However, if you manage to get in front at the start, you can compensate when braking and entering corners more effort, because you can’t make the braking points you would like and you have to pay attention to the riders in front of you, keeping a bit of a margin. This is partly why, because when you’re alone everything is easier.”
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