The Ducati leader suffered greatly during the Japanese weekend, which resulted in a monumental mistake when trying to overtake Fabio Quartararo on the last lap with only one point at stake. This Saturday, during Q2, the Italian seemed, in his first outing, to return to his old ways and not be able to close a good lap. But when all the drivers returned to the track, Pecco Bagnaia insisted, stayed on the asphalt and managed to close a good lap. With the new tyre, in the second start, he achieved the third fastest time, overtaking the Frenchman and starting from the front row to start making up for what he had lost in Motegi.
“I’m happier with the pace than with the fastest lap I did, because it wasn’t too clean. Unfortunately, with the first tire I didn’t feel very good, because I was slipping a lot. That can happen sometimes, maybe I didn’t prepare it well on the lap of that run. Being on the front row was the main goal anyway, so we’re in a good position for tomorrow,” said Pecco right after Q2.
“The race pace has been very good in FP4, especially because on the last lap, with a tire that had 26 laps, I was only two tenths off the best time I did in FP3 in the morning, so I’m happy”, he assured, despite the fact that he will have to start behind Marco Bezzecchi, who achieved his first pole position in MotoGP, and Jorge Martín, both with a Ducati.
“In qualifying I thought 1.29.7 was already a great time, but the other two did a great job. However, I’m happy for Bez and his first pole,” he added.
Despite not being able to realize his full potential until Q2, Bagnaia wasn’t as stuck this weekend in Thailand as he was in Japan.
“Yesterday went well, because in FP2 we had taken a step forward and today we have taken another. This morning’s FP3 was very strange, because when the time came for the attack on time there was a queue of six or seven riders who were going very slowly on the racing line, then there were yellow flags, and that didn’t allow me to do the lap. Fortunately, I only needed yesterday’s time to get into Q2. But the best session, and I think the most important today , has been the FP4”, argued.
Starting third and with two Ducati in front, Bagnaia will have to consider the race strategy, defensively so that Quartararo doesn’t pass him, or attacking to put distance.
“You have to start, push, never give up and get to the end. This morning, with the same tire with which I did the whole FP4, I did 1:31.1. This afternoon I did 1:31.3 on the last lap, so that the consumption is a lot, but the performance is still very similar and it will not be easy to be able to push so hard throughout the race. I think Fabio is the one with the pace closest to mine. Martín has taken a step forward, but in my opinion Fabio is the most competitive with us”, launched his prediction for Turin.
