Bagnaia: “With a used tire I will be faster than Quartararo”

The young Ducati rider has accumulated three podium finishes this season, in Qatar (3rd), Portimao and Jerez (2nd), in addition to fourth place at Le Mans and his worst result of the year, sixth place in Doha. Thanks to this consistency, Pecco Bagnaia is second overall, just one point behind Fabio Quartararo , who this Sunday will start from pole looking for his third victory of the year.

Meanwhile, Bagnaia is still pursuing his first MotoGP victory, a realistic goal for him this Sunday, and if achieved, it would return him to the top of the general standings.

“We have worked a lot this weekend with used rubber, from the first session, and I feel very well”, explained the rider from Turin .

“Mugello is a circuit that I like, where the Ducati is doing very well. In FP4 we have taken another step forward and it has given us the second position behind Quartararo”, he added.

Although, on paper, Quartararo seems to have a slight advantage after taking pole, the reality is different in Pecco’s opinion.

“I think that with used tires we are faster than Fabio. Surely he will be very fast at the beginning of the race, but as the laps go by we will be able to be more consistent. Fabio will be the hardest to beat in the race, but we are ready”, he warned.

During Q2 Pecco was unable to close a clean fast lap, despite starting second, and complained about traffic.

“The classification has been very strange. I looked back a moment and there were six drivers and that’s half the number in Q2, that’s a lot. I didn’t want to help them because I’m always the one pulling the others. Already in the first start I helped Aleix (Espargaró) ”, he said.

“After doing so many sessions working, you’re just looking for a slipstream on the straight, but I haven’t found it. In the end I made the return alone. I’ve got a good time, not at Fabio’s level, but now in Q2 that happens a lot. You do the laps like this, you’re on the limit and it’s very easy to crash, make a mistake or get caught. This is not Moto3, we are adults and if we are in MotoGP it is because we should know that we should not do that”, he complained in reference to the riders who follow the wheel in qualifying, as happened in Q1 with Maverick Viñales and Marc Márquez .