MotoGP | Pecco Bagnaia’s talent told by his technicians

Since his first successes three years ago, Pecco Bagnaia has written the first pages of a chapter that promises to go down in MotoGP history. In 99 Grand Prix races in the premier class, he has collected 45 podiums (almost one race out of two) and 25 victories, becoming the most successful Ducati rider in the championship since the beginning of the summer, better than Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso.

At this stage of the season, where he is defending his title for the second time, Bagnaia has already won seven Grand Prix, the same number he achieved in the last two years at the end of the championship. As he continues to do better, he has managed to reduce the number of mistakes he makes at crucial moments, making him, at 27, a true point of reference in MotoGP, ready to make his mark in the long term.

“It’s incredible to see how much he has grown as a rider, because at the beginning he had a lot of problems with worn tyres and hard braking, but now I think he is the best Ducati rider in those two areas,” Cristian Gabarrini, a loyal member of the Bagnaia clan who has been in charge of the technical team since the Italian arrived in MotoGP, explained to the British edition of Motorsport.com, having gained experience working with some of the biggest names in the sport, including Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo.

“His greatest quality is braking,” agrees Manuel Poggiali, who has access to his own career as a coach for the factory Ducati riders, to Motorsport.com. “He brakes very hard and later than the other riders. At this stage it is difficult to overtake him and for Pecco it is easier, although at the moment in MotoGP it is not easy to ride normally when you are following another rider.”

Having worked closely with Bagnaia even before joining Yamaha, where he now works alongside Fabio Quartararo, the last rider to beat the Turin native in the championship, engineer Max Bartolini sees in Bagnaia a great champion who has not yet fully explored his talent.

“From a riding point of view, they are both strong in braking,” he describes, questioned by Motosprint about a Bagnaia-Quartararo parallel. “‘Pecco more in the second part, Quartararo in the ‘classic’ braking of the past. In certain moments, Bagnaia is more thoughtful; Fabio is pure talent, he enters the track and gives it his all. Pecco calculates what he does when needed. In terms of speed, I think Pecco has not yet reached his maximum potential, I am convinced of that.”

“He has the ability to grow, to improve and to understand many important things about driving. I think he is continuing to improve, because he continues to show us even more precision than a few races ago,” adds Cristian Gabarrini.

“He has improved in all areas. Some, like the lap speed, were there from the beginning. He already had it, but, for example, the fact of leading a race, of not making mistakes and maintaining a very consistent pace, he has done it year after year, race after race. So I don’t think he will stop,” added Cristian Gabarrini, confident in what his driver will be able to demonstrate when he changes teammates.

The pressure? “Pecco handles it very well”

As well as fighting for a third consecutive title, Pecco Bagnaia is preparing for the next challenge that awaits him, when Marc Marquez joins the factory Ducati team alongside him next season. It’s a change that could be seen as a cause for concern for the Italian, as bookmakers already seem convinced that the #93 will be unstoppable once he has full control of the most advanced Ducati possible. However, his engineer sees no reason to worry about the atmosphere in the garage when MotoGP’s most successful rider becomes his teammate.

Cristian Gabarrini is simply certain that his rider knows how to handle pressure: “Whenever you ride a red bike, there is pressure and, in my opinion, Pecco handles it very well. In some difficult races, he showed on several occasions that he could be in difficulty, but then he finished the race well. He never lost the lead of the race.”

“He’s mentally strong,” adds Manuel Poggiali. “He’s made mistakes, like everyone else, but you can see that he’s grown with them. He understands why he made mistakes. This is one of his greatest qualities, and it’s the mentality of a champion.”

Interviews by Adam Wheeler