A perfect day. It is difficult to give a different definition to what Pecco Bagnaia experienced at Mugello. The Ducati rider took his third consecutive success in the Italian Grand Prix (the fifth on the up-and-down Tuscan race if the Sprints are also considered), enjoying the crowd that arrived to support him and the Borgo Panigale manufacturer.
All with a livery that paid homage to the Italian blue and after receiving a video from Gene Simmons, charismatic leader of Kiss, to whom he had dedicated the special helmet for this weekend. The cry was “I wanna rock n’roll all night and party every day” and Pecco respected it to the letter.
“It was a good weekend in general, not only for the results, but also for the surroundings, which were fantastic. Winning here is an added value and I particularly liked racing with this livery, it also brought luck. Every time that you obtain results of this type gives a lot of satisfaction”, said Bagnaia after the press conference, starting from the emotional side of this special Sunday.
Moving on to more technical aspects, he underlined how fundamental it was to be able to immediately take command of the race, climbing from fifth to first place in the space of two corners, but also the satisfaction of having managed to best execute the strategy he had planned.
“We knew how important the start was and I concentrated on trying to make it as good as possible. It was certainly essential to stay on the outside at San Donato and have an advantage at turn 2 to try to dive in and pass Jorge (Martin). From that from then on we knew that we could have the management of the race in our hands, but until you do it they are words, so it was fundamental”, he said, describing the maneuver which effectively canceled the much-discussed three-place grid penalty that he was seen passing after an alleged impediment to Alex Marquez on Friday.
He also had a nice digression on the topic: “I wanted to beat the record of Qatar, where I was first in 32 seconds, here I think I took a little less from fifth place (laughs)”, recalling that he had also succeeded in Lusail in the same undertaking, but in that case in four corners.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
When he was then asked if something like this should be done more in a closed vein or in a rational way, he added: “A closed vein never pays, you always have to be able to do the right thing at the right time. I had thought of it that way.” , but doing it is never easy. It’s true that you try strategies, but it’s never easy to implement them, because when I saw that Jorge remained a little conservative at the exit of turn 1, I understood. that there was an opportunity to throw yourself into it that was too important and honestly it’s something that gives me great pleasure.”
Once in the lead, the gap to Martin was fluctuating, with the gap opening and closing a little. With three laps to go, the Madrilenian had only reached three tenths of a second, but Pecco’s reaction was vehement and earned him the victory. The Piedmontese revealed that there was a reason for this wavering gap.
“Today was very strange, because I couldn’t be consistent with the times, but I had to do it this way, because when I tried, the front closed a lot. The only strategy I carried forward was to do a lap fast and a cool down. It was the only way to keep that gap: it wasn’t an ideal strategy, but it paid off, because on the second lap I was able to give him that bit more which I then managed on the following lap.”
After the sensational mistake last week, when he crashed on the last lap of the Sprint when he was firmly in the lead, the reaction was like a true champion, because three consecutive victories were achieved if yesterday’s short race is also counted.
“Mistakes always serve as a great lesson for me. That fall helped me understand that with our bike you can’t afford to do something even slightly different. You have to be very precise and that lap there, when I fell in Barcelona, I was just a bit more aligned with the wheels, the back pushed the front and I fell out. You have to try to be as clean as possible and it’s not easy, but falling always helps you grow.”
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The results at Mugello allowed him to significantly reduce the gap to Martin, third today, because now we are only talking about 18 points. However, it is still early to talk about the championship: “Let’s see, because the championship is very long, but we are going to very good tracks for us, but also for the others. The important thing is to always be consistent”.
After Casey Stoner had obtained the 27th victory for Ducati, Bagnaia the 63rd, Marco Bezzecchi the 72nd and Martin the 89th, there was great anticipation for Marc Marquez at Mugello, because today’s race could have scored the 93rd success of the Bolognese manufacturer, but this cabal was broken: “Thank goodness, also because after Marquez there are no bigger numbers, so it needed to be stopped.”
Still talking about statistics, he is now just one victory away from the most successful Ducati rider, Casey Stoner: “I’m close, but Casey did it in fewer seasons, so I could overtake him, but not in the same number of years”.
Finally, he dedicated a caress to the many fans who made him experience a special weekend: “Already last year, but this year I experienced it even better, because it was really full. Honestly, when you see so many people it’s magical Even this morning, during the parade, we passed in front of the Casanova-Savelli and it was already full at 10:30 in the morning. Mugello is always magical.”
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