Bagnaia comes close to setting the best time
The disappointment of the crash in India last week does not appear to have affected his performance Francesco Bagnaia on Friday of Japanese Grand Prixwhere the tests valid for direct access to Q2. The reigning world champion, thanks to 2nd place behind Brad Binder (with the South African ahead by just 29 thousandths on ‘Pecco’ and author of the new Motegi track record), will thus compete in tomorrow’s qualifying without having to go through Q1 first. A goal that, however, his teammate failed to reach Michele Pirro. The Apulian test rider, promoted by the official Borgo Panigale team to replace the injured Enea Bastianini, in fact finished in 20th positionthanks to the flare-up of the pain in his left ankle and an absence from Motegi that had lasted for ten years.
Pecco’s optimism
In this way, thanks to a notable result in the tests, Bagnaia will be able to fight for a pole position that has been missing since Barcelona, and then strengthen his leadership in the world championship by trying to realize the goal of victory that has not appeared since Spielberg: “We’re finally back at the front! It’s been a while since I’ve been among the first at the end of Friday and I’m happy with the progress we’ve managed to make in terms of braking. – he commented at the end of the session – now I can push again like before. We’re still missing something and I’m not completely satisfied, but we’re close to having the problem completely resolved. We also improved when cornering, because in the last GPs the bike tended to lead me wide, and I’m happy because we understood what caused the problem. Now we’re ready for tomorrow, and I’m sure that with a bike like this I will be able to fight for the top positions“.
Pain torments Pirro
Pirro is definitely more in difficulty and hopes to be able to make progress starting tomorrow: “It’s been ten years since I raced on this track and fortunately today the conditions were cooler than in India – he has declared – unfortunately we are still in difficulty and far from the leaders, but we hope to be able to make further progress tomorrow. Today I didn’t take any painkillers and the pain in my ankle made itself felt: I hope to feel a little better tomorrow.” MotoGP will return to the track tomorrow at 3.10am Italian time for FP2, with qualifying scheduled for a little later, at 03:50 and live both on Sky Sports MotoGP that in the clear about TV8.
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