The (two) usual suspects
The pre-qualifying of the second consecutive GP on the Misano track has already provided some interesting signals: the ‘technical’ ones indicate a track with more gripa feature that could make tomorrow’s pole chase particularly spectacular, with very fast times. The sports ones instead show two riders who currently seem to have a clear advantage over the competition: Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia. Even in the interviews given to journalists present on the Romagna track, the two main contenders for the title confirmed that they feel strong and fast.
Unapproachable race pace
“Jorge and I made the difference on everyone – explained Bagnaia – we went quite faster. In the time attack a little, but on the race pace we were about four tenths faster than the third. So we made a lot of difference“, the world champion acknowledged without hiding. However, the balance between the two is maximum and despite the fact that the reigning world champion finished in the lead in the Practice, he does not believe he is better off than his rival on the single lap: “I felt good in the time attack. But I have to say that Jorge did the first lap quite cautiously. – continued Bagnaia – I tried to push immediately. In fact I did 30.8 right away. He did 31.6. Then to do the second time attack he fell. But in general I think we are more or less similar, both on the time attack and on the race pace“.
The analysis of the centaur from Chivasso was also shared by Martinator, who however experienced a small inconvenience at the end of the session compared to #1, slipping in an attempt to further improve his time: “It was a lap that I knew would be difficult to improve upon. – explained the leader of the ranking – I improved the first sector, but I had caught Morbidelli and I was trying to follow his line, because I know he rides very well and keeps neat lines. I braked in the same place, but I lost load and it closed on me”. The mistake did not take away Martin’s good mood, however: “I averaged 30.8, so I have to be happy. Pecco and I are one step ahead of the rest right now. I didn’t expect that. – concluded the standard-bearer of the Pramac team – I expected to have Bastianini and Marquez close to me on the pace, like in the tests. But today the conditions were a bit particular“.
Marquez and too much grip
The supremacy of the Bagnaia-Martin duo was also confirmed by Marc Márquezwho provided an interesting analysis focusing his attention on the grip level of the track: “When the grip conditions are better the trend this year is that Martín and Bagnaia take a step forward. It was the same today and they were faster than us. But we are there in the second group, as it was also in Misano-1 actually. I don’t know if it’s GP24’s fault or mine – added Marquez – because even when I was in Honda I was able to be faster with less grip, while when there was much more grip sometimes it was more difficult”. Finally the standard-bearer of the Gresini team explained the small setback that slowed him down at the start of pre-qualifying: “I felt something strange and went back to the pits to double check everything. – explained #93 – Why I didn’t want to risk a stupid fall. I came back, I changed the bike, they solved the problem and off we went. Our plans changed a bit, but the most important thing is that, even with the problem, the result was not compromised, because I was able to work well in the second part of the tests.“.
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