After the pre-season there was talk of a practically unbeatable Ducati and Pecco Bagnaia was indicated as the favorite in the starting blocks of the 2024 MotoGP. The reality of the first races of the season, however, was very different for the reigning world champion, who I only rejoiced on Sunday in Qatar, where he achieved a beautiful victory. For the rest, however, he was never able to express himself at his level and that's how it went again today in Austin, after yesterday's Sprint had already been disappointing.
A race that had started quite well overall, because in the very early stages the Piedmontese had even managed to get into second position, but then at a distance the problems emerged which are preventing him from being as incisive as he would like on the Desmosedici GP24 and therefore in the end he had to settle for fifth place overall.
A result that dropped him to 30 points behind Jorge Martin in the World Championship and gave shape to a picture that closely resembles the start of the 2022 season, when in the summer he found himself over 90 points away from Fabio Quartararo before starting the comeback that led him to become world champion.
“My race started well, I felt good. After the sixth lap I thought I could fight for the victory or the podium. But I started having a lot of chattering, a lot of vibrations on the left side and it was very difficult to manage everything. Furthermore I completely destroyed the tire on the right side, so it was difficult to make corners on that side,” Bagnaia said.
“So, from the seventh lap I had to run in defense and it was very difficult. I tried to manage everything, but we have to understand the situation and solve our problems, because at the moment it is very difficult. The situation is very similar to that of 2022, when at the beginning of the season I had to run in defense. I trust my team to resolve this and then we will be fighting for the top again,” he added.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Among other things, Pecco seems quite convinced that this was not due to his choice to race with the soft tire on the rear, also because it was shared by the majority of the riders, even if Maverick Vinales and Pedro Acosta, who finished first and second, they ran with the average.
“In the Warm-Up I used the Sprint tire to do more laps with a used tyre. It was just to understand if it could be good for the long race and I think it was the right choice, even if Vinales and Acosta with the medium seemed better after a few laps. If we take Bastianini, I think if he hadn't made any mistakes he could have fought for the victory.
The biggest worry is precisely the difference in performance that Bastianini had today, third at the end, but he did not suffer the same problems that he and Martin had.
“It's strange because Enea didn't have any chattering this weekend, but he was really in difficulty throughout the weekend. I felt good, Martin was fast, but today we struggled. It's difficult to understand with three bikes, because Morbidelli he's still learning the Ducati.”
“Enea had difficulty with the brakes, he struggled to make the bike turn. But today he was very fast and without any problems he would have been able to fight for the victory. I, on the other hand, was able to fight for the victory for only six laps, after which I started to work hard,” he concluded.
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