MotoGP | Bagnaia, message to Ducati: “I hope there will be four GP25s”

Pecco Bagnaia is in great form: he has three consecutive victories between Barcelona, ​​Mugello and Assen and in the last two events he has taken full points, also taking home the Sprint. A feat that he also came close to achieving in Catalunya, when he slipped on the last lap while he seemed to be heading for another success.

“I’m coming from three weekends where we’ve been very strong. We were only 12 points short of the full haul and I felt better and better on the bike, lap after lap. This gave me even more motivation. Also in the last few weekends we’ve changed our approach a bit and it’s working, so we’ll try to continue like this,” Bagnaia said of his current form in the press conference that opened the German Grand Prix.

This weekend there would be a taboo to break, because at the Sachsenring he has always been strong, but he has never managed to take victory, even though last year he fought for it until the last meter against his rival in the race for the title Jorge Martin, who arrived in Germany with a margin of 10 points. The goal will therefore be to try to complete the feat this year.

“We will definitely try. Last year I didn’t manage to win, but on Sunday I had a good race. Jorge did a really good defense in the last laps and was very good at protecting himself, so I couldn’t pass him, but it was a lot of fun. I wasn’t 100% fit, because I was still a bit sore from the crash in Le Mans, but I remember that I had a lot of potential, as well as the Ducati, which is well suited to this track, so hopefully we can do well again this year.”

However, many point to Marc Marquez as the big favourite, still chasing his first success aboard the Gresini Racing Ducati, who has won the German circuit an incredible 11 times, eight of which in MotoGP.

“He has the potential to fight for the win. We know how strong he is on left-handed circuits. The level of competition will be high, so it will be important to try to get right straight away, and maybe we can even follow him for a few laps.”

Until a few years ago, Sachsenring was considered perhaps the most difficult track for Ducati, while last year the Desmosedici GP were even able to monopolize the first five positions in the Sunday race. A real reversal of perspective, which however according to Pecco has a very clear explanation.

“If you have the best riders on the best bikes, this allows you to bring home the results. Jerez was also a difficult track for Ducati and the same goes for Misano. There were many tracks that were complicated for our bike, but the work we did allowed us to improve a lot. Turning is no longer a problem and here it is fundamental. Then I repeat, when you give the best bike to the best riders, the potential can only be very high”.

In this sense, last week the news came that Ducati will have two less bikes on the track next year, with the passage of Prima Pramac Racing to rivals Yamaha. And the general manager of Ducati Corse, Gigi Dall’Igna, anticipated last Sunday in Assen that the contingent of factory bikes will probably be reduced from four to three. An idea that however does not seem to please the reigning world champion too much.

“Honestly, when they announced a few years ago that Ducati would have eight bikes, I was a bit scared, because I thought that with so many bikes and the same engineers the situation could be a bit critical. Now I think the opposite, with fewer bikes to focus on and the same number of engineers. The most important thing would be to have two more factory bikes. I really hope there will be two more GP25s, because it would be important for development, but we’ll see.”

Finally, the Piedmontese commented on the rumors of a possible interest from Lewis Hamilton in purchasing Gresini Racing: “I don’t know what to say. Imagination can work miracles, but I’ve never believed it, also because these rumors always come out about Gresini Racing. Last year they also said that Marc could buy the team. Maybe he could form a company with Hamilton (laughs).”