Bagnaia: "There is no reason to be worried"

“There is no reason to be worried”, calmed Pecco Bagnaia at the end of the first day of the pre-season test on the new circuit on the island of Lombok, in which he finished third from last with a time of 1.34.318, 1.85 behind. Pol Espargaró, who left the best time of the day.

In the previous ones, everyone points to the Ducati as the great ‘brown beast’ of the MotoGP grid for 2022, and seeing Bagnaia, its theoretical spearhead, in the lower zone creates some uncertainty.

“There are no reasons to be worried,” reassures the Turin. “In the tests different strategies are always made, we have been the only ones who have not mounted a soft rubber, because we want to understand the tires as best as possible on this circuit. We had to mount the soft rubber (rear) at the end, but it has started to rain and we have given up”, said Pecco, wrongly, since there were many who did not ride it.

“In any case, if you look at the pace, we have been very strong, although it is something that interests us to a certain extent, since there is no race this weekend. Let’s say that we are satisfied with the steps forward today and for sure tomorrow, With the track that will be cleaner, we will be able to do even better. But today I made my best time on lap 16 with a medium tire and this makes us understand a lot of things.”

The track presented problems in the first hours, due to the overnight rain, which ended up muddying the asphalt. Something that would have been much worse if it was a Grand Prix weekend.

“You have to be very precise and perfect on the lines, because if you go off the line for a moment it’s a disaster. Today too, if a long lap penalty had to be taken, it would have been impossible to stay on.”

“I hope they consider these things for the race weekend, making sure that when we get there it is a little better, although I see it difficult because throughout the circuit they are doing a job that raises the dust, which then gets on the track. .

“Surely these three days of testing will not help for the race. Also, during the Grand Prix weekend there will be many bikes on the track, so the asphalt will change, similar to Qatar, where there is a lot of grip on the track and offline much less.

Bagnaia starred in one of the few falls of this first day.

“I felt that there was much more grip on the rear tire, only that I insisted a little too much and it closed in the same place where Jorge Martín also fell. In these conditions it is difficult not to make mistakes, also if the track is new you have to look for the limit and at that moment unfortunately I found it”, settled the Ducati rider.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team