Jerez.- Pecco Bagnaia closed 2021 with four wins in the last six races and hot on the heels of a Fabio Quartararo who was able to secure the title thanks to his best first half of the season.
However, the Ducati driver was lost in pre-season with the new Desmosedici GP22. They returned to a hybrid engine between last year’s and this one, tested precisely in the Jerez test in November 2021, eliminating some of the parts introduced in this year’s bike, such as the front active height adjustment device, one of the ‘jewels’ of the brand for this campaign, which has not been successful.
Pecco’s progress, however, has been increasing and only the crash in Portimao, on Saturday, which forced him to start last, prevented him from signing a better result in the race where he came back from 23rd to 8th place.
Little by little, last year’s Bagnaia is making a comeback, as was seen at the end of the first day of the Spanish Grand Prix, in which he finished third.
“I hope. Honestly, I am happy with today. We have worked very hard since the beginning of the season and step by step we are reaching our goal, our feelings. Already in Portimao I expected to be fast, but we were unlucky with the conditions The race helped me a lot to get that feeling with our bike”.
“Today we have started where we left off in Portimao, the feeling is very good. I can brake hard, I can go into [the corner] fast. That was something that I was missing, but it is something that we have finally found again. This helps me a lot. , also the conditions help me a lot to concentrate on myself”, explained the Italian this Friday in Jerez.
“Now I can do what I want again. We are fast when we can ride and take the bike where we want. In Portimao it was the first time I rode like this again, and here we started in the same situation,” he stressed.
Pecco Bagnaia has focused in recent races on finding a solid base so as not to make many changes to the bike.
“I started with the same bike from Portimao and I will continue like this. The sensations are very good, also with used tyres. In the third start with used tyres, I did my best lap with the medium. That means a lot to me and we have to continue like this”, said Pecco, who considers the choice of the hard compound at the front to be ideal for him. “Sunday will be warmer, so everything will be fine with the hard one.”
Despite feeling that he is back in a strong position, Pecco does not want to rush.
“It’s certainly been a long road since the start of the season. But we’re finally there. I don’t want to say we’re here to fight for the win, that’s too early to tell. Fabio Quartararo was very quick today, the Suzukis are very fast. If we continue like this, we will be more prepared”.
At this point, Bagnaia admitted that he is working with a very similar bike to last year.
“We started in Portimao with the same bike as last year. What happens is that we need more time to adapt to a different bike. In the end it’s better this way, I had to change my riding style a bit.”
“With the old bike it was easier to stop because the aerodynamics were bigger. Also looking at the data from last year I did the same lap time in FP2, the difference is in the braking. Last year I braked a little harder, but now I can get into the corner much faster. I can close the line more, so this is the biggest difference between the two bikes. And working with the same bike it’s easy for me to improve, that’s better,” he said before clarifying when they asked if he had returned to the 2021 bike: “The configuration is the same”, he left in the air.
