Ducati put on a real show this Friday during the first day of free practice at the Sachsenring. On this day, the Borgo Panigale brand placed five of its bikes in the top 6, with Pecco Bagnaia leading the qualifying sheet.
In addition to the fact that the Ducati historically are not comfortable on a circuit as narrow and winding as the German one, this is an ideal way to forget his disappointment in Catalonia, where he was one of the victims of the incident at the start with Takaaki Nakagami.
“So far I only have one podium finish on this track, in 2017,” Bagnaia said after Friday’s conclusion. “It’s never easy to be competitive here at the beginning of the weekend. Last year I managed to be competitive in the race, but on the first day I was one of the last. I enjoyed every lap I did today, I like it when I have a good feeling as soon as I enter the race. track, I’m very happy, we did a very good job with the tires and I don’t want to change anything on my bike because the settings are already good, I have to improve tomorrow in terms of pace.”
However, staying ahead will be a must, especially on a circuit where overtaking is difficult and where the high temperatures expected this weekend could cause a lot of tire management problems.
“There are many reasons [why GP22 is doing much better in Germany than last year],” Bagnaia said. “The fairing is smaller, it’s more manageable. We worked a lot at the end of last year and also this season on the behavior of our machine in the corners. With Jack [Miller] we have done a very good job in this area.”
“It is clear that it will be very important to be in front from the beginning of the race, because if it is as hot as expected it will be very difficult to stay behind someone, due to the pressure of the front tire. But I think we suffered less with these high temperatures. So we will have to see what happens tomorrow, to understand the conditions that we will have in the race”, concluded Bagnaia.
