The ranking does not always give a true picture of the values on the field at the end of the day on Friday. And Pecco Bagnaia seems to think so too, judging by his words after he finished Friday’s Japanese Grand Prix in seventh place. The reigning world champion, in fact, had excellent sensations aboard his Ducati and in terms of race pace he even thinks he is in the best position of all. Maybe only the time attack could have been done better, but today it’s not a problem, given that the only thing that mattered was getting direct access to Q2.
“We can say that it was a good Friday. The grip wasn’t the best, but we managed to be very fast, close to last year’s record. Unfortunately I didn’t get any closer, because in the last time attack I made a mistake at turn 11 and I went wide, while in the first I had been a bit conservative. Up until that moment everything was perfect: we managed to work well and we were strong both in terms of pace and time attack”, said Bagnaia.
“But the good thing is that I would have been in Q2 even without the time attack, because I had done 1’44″0 on the first outing (a time that would actually place him ninth). At the moment our pace is very good, perhaps the best, even if it’s too early to say. Then I think that Martin and Acosta are quite close to me from this point of view. I think we will have to take another step forward, but we already know what to do,” he added.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo credit: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Yesterday he said that Motegi is a track more suited to him than Mandalika. An idea that was confirmed again today: “I think this track is similar in terms of grip to Jerez and the Red Bull Ring, which are two good tracks for me. You have to use the brake a lot to stop the bike and make it turn. Furthermore, the tires they brought here are also suited to my style so everything seems ok, but now we have to continue working like this and maybe even try to improve a little more.”
However, the weather could still have a hand in this weekend, especially on Saturday: “Tomorrow it will almost certainly rain, so we will need to be reactive and understand the situation well, trying to get as far ahead as possible, especially in qualifying. It shouldn’t be in the afternoon. rain, but here you never know what will happen with the weather: rain wasn’t forecast today, but it dripped all day. The important thing is to continue as we did today, which we were very strong from start to finish.”
Whatever the conditions, the plan for the continuation of the weekend is quite clear for Pecco: “It’s essential not to make mistakes, but also to recover some points, so I have to do my best to try to come away from here with fewer points to recover on Martin”.
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