Francesco Bagnaia of the Ducati Lenovo team, leader of the riders’ championship, participated in the press conference on Thursday of the Aragon Grand Prix, the twelfth round of the 2024 MotoGP world calendar. Below are his statements.
Prospects for Aragon
“I’m happy because I like the track, the layout is gorgeous. We go fast, but there are some big braking points. The bike behaved very well and we have great potential. Marc and Jorge are very fast and I think it will be a 4 way battleEnea won last year. It will be a great battle, we enjoy the track, the sun and the new asphalt.
It would be nice to fight among ourselves, this track makes escapes difficult. There are a lot of fast corners and a good battle like in 2021 would be great.”
2025 start in Thailand and Brno return
“Strange, but for the first time we will go not in the hurricane season. I am happy to return to Brno.”
25 wins like Schwantz
“You grow up watching these pilots on TV, you hear about them. Then you get to match those numbers, it’s something incredible. I’m very happy. Being in the top 10 in history is fantastic for me.. Since I was very young, reaching this level was a dream.”
Aggression
“I will be aggressive, my mentality has not changed. Between the first win of 2021 and today, I know how to win. If I went back to that race today, I would try to create a gap, but the battle would be similar.”
What to improve on the bike
“Having the perfect bike is impossible, it is always a mix of elements. Maybe there’s a lack of traction in some cases, compared to the past. I’m asking this of the engineers.”
How to ride a Ducati
“When the engineers understood that riders might want to ride a different bike, in 2019, something changed. My problem was braking, I couldn’t use the engine brake. When we improved this aspect in 2020, we improved a lot. I was using a different system than Dovizioso, who was the reference point. There is not just one setting and from then on we were able to adapt the bike to every riding style.”
How your career has changed in 3 years
“2021 was a strange year. I could have won more times, but I always made some mistakes. Since the victory here I have won 4 out of 6 races. My mentality has changed a lot, I worked hard to get to the current level.”
The new asphalt
“If the asphalt is really new, oil will come out. I spoke to Vietti who did the tests here, in the morning it was slippery but in the afternoon the grip was really good. Some spots could be more slippery.”
Motegi and the car and motorbike race on the same weekend
“We’ve already talked about it, I don’t know if it’s really possible. It could be beautiful, but you have to understand where it is done. In Japan there is a huge passion for motorsport, it depends.
In case of problems, usually if you run after the cars you tend to slide a lot.”
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