If there is one thing that has always distinguished Pecco Bagnaia's career in MotoGP, it is the Ducati rider's ability to react. The two weekends in Portimao and Austin were certainly below expectations for the reigning world champion, who however arrived in Jerez determined to turn the situation around.
And for now things seem to be going well, because he was the fastest at the end of Friday's Spanish Grand Prix, also setting a new record on the Andalusian track. But above all it is the feeling that he found on his Desmosedici GP that made him arrive with a smile on his face at the usual interviews.
“Given the difficulties of the last weekends, we planned this Friday as a test and it worked, because we managed to try more things than we usually do. I'm happy because we managed to find a feeling when braking and entering corners that I've been missing it for a while and it was a good step forward,” said Bagnaia, who at the beginning of the morning was also slowed down by a clutch problem, which however didn't complicate the plans too much.
“We tried something big and it worked very well, so we are happy with both the pace and the time attack, something I've been missing for a while, so it was a positive Friday. This morning we started with the same setting as Austin, but we managed to improve it in every run and this made the bike easier to ride,” he added.
The other positive note is that for now the annoying vibrations that tormented him a lot in the first seasonal outings have not manifested themselves. For the moment, however, the Piedmontese prefers not to claim victory on this front.
“I'm keeping my feet on the ground and waiting to see how the weekend will go as a whole, but at the moment it's been a very positive Friday. However, we've never had the problem of vibrations on Fridays, which is why I prefer to wait, because also In Austin the sensations were good, but then I suffered in both races. If the feeling is still like this on Sunday evening, then I will be very happy.”
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
According to Pecco, the vibration problem could be triggered by the great grip offered by the tires introduced this year by Michelin: if this were the case, it's just a matter of understanding how to exploit it in such a way that it is an advantage.
“The times we are doing this year are incredible. Maybe they thought that the times would remain similar and that the tire would offer more support. But we are much faster both over the lap and over the race distance and in certain situations these arise vibrations”.
“But I think that when we fully understand these tyres, we will take a big step. For example, Acosta is developing his driving style with these tires and this is an advantage, because he is able to push in an incredible way. Maybe it will be same for me when we understand them.”
Today we also witnessed a reversal of a scene that we had seen many times in the last two years, when Marc Marquez went to take the tail of his Ducati to set the time. This time, in fact, it was he who wanted to study the Gresini Racing driver closely.
“I needed to make the time: he was also in the same situation because there had been a yellow flag. The way I drive, it's not ideal to keep up with someone, but I have to say that in T3 he is very fast, especially at turn 7. It's something that, thanks to the experience with Honda, he managed to bring to Ducati. So I tried to see what he was doing in that section and it worked.”
Finally, he did not go too far on those who could be the most formidable rivals this weekend: “There are many who are going fast, then on this track everyone is close. Many were with the soft on the rear, but just as many were with the medium , so it's very difficult to make comparisons, but at the moment it seems to me that there are many of us who are fast”, he concluded.
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