Pole position and victory in the Sprint. In MotoGP it is practically impossible to ask for more from a Saturday and in fact Pecco Bagnaia showed off a smile that was worth more than 1,000 words as he received the medal for his success in the short race of the Dutch Grand Prix. After the double in Mugello, the Ducati rider seems to be able to aspire to another one in Assen and his great moment of form could really start to be a wake-up call for the competition.
Above all for the world championship leader Jorge Martin, who today saw himself beaten at his own game: he has always been the specialist in the Sprints, but if now the world champion can start stealing points from him in these too, it will not be easy to manage the margin in the standings, which has shrunk to 15 points.
According to Bagnaia, however, the results of the latest outings are the result of a progression that had begun much earlier, but for one reason or another he had failed to demonstrate it. Now he is finally reaping the benefits.
“In reality, we have been going very well for five races since Friday and we could be fast in the Sprints too, but various things have happened, such as the contact with Binder in Jerez, the technical problem in Le Mans or my crash in Barcelona on the last lap, when I was first. In the last two we managed to not have any kind of problem and we have to say that for the moment we are managing to have a little more than in Barcelona: we started off on the right foot since yesterday morning. and we worked really well,” Bagnaia told Sky Sport MotoGP.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The secret is that he has now found a solid base with which to start the weekends without having to touch his Desmosedici GP too much. A situation very similar to the one that allowed him to start the ride in 2022 that led him to his first world title in the premier class.
“We worked a lot at the start of the championship. Even though we won in Qatar, I wasn’t too happy with the general feeling, especially on Fridays. I tried to find a solution with the team and we found it in Jerez. From then on we always managed to improve, until we got here, where we managed to be extremely competitive right from the start. We touched just the minimum to adapt the bike a bit more to the track, but for the rest we didn’t do anything. The thing I focused on most was training and physical preparation, because you always have to improve and I have to say that that helps too.”
Today he set an infernal pace for the race, with a pace in the high 1’31”, but the feeling with the hard front tyre was not optimal. And perhaps this is what should scare the competition even more, because the Ducati rider is convinced that there is still room to do better.
“After I did the 1’31″5 I tried to manage a little more, but still lapped hard. When you lap under 1’32” here, it’s truly incredible. There was still a bit of margin, because I wasn’t too happy with the feeling with the hard tire on the front, because it doesn’t give me the grip I need But it was the only possible option with 50 degrees of asphalt. Maybe the medium tire would have held up, but it could have been a problem if I had been second at the start and had to follow Martin. In the end I think it was tough the right choice, but there was still a bit of margin.”
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