Bagnaia: “I haven’t found myself yet”

The Italian Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia (Ducati), ninth on the first day of free practice for the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Valencian Community, acknowledged that he did not “find himself at all”. And it is that in FP1 he finished 17th and the result, together with the fact that Quartararo led the session, fought him to decide the crown on Sunday

“Honestly, I thought this morning I felt better than last year, but the bike set-up is very different this year,” he commented.

“On this track, if it’s because of the wind, because of the conditions and because I’m playing for the title, I haven’t found myself yet, but in any case we worked well and that in the last ‘run’ of FP1 that the tire at the end of its life is running well,” explained the Italian driver.

“And in FP2 I noticed a big step forward that allowed me to be faster and that’s why I enjoyed the work day; the only thing that limited me was the ‘attack on time’, because I didn’t I wanted to make mistakes like I did in Malaysia and I felt strong but I left a margin of two or three points and in the end we were only two tenths behind Luca Marini, so we can be happy”, he continued.

About his performance in the first free practice, 17th, he said: “It’s always a training session where I try to understand the different situations, I usually don’t start very fast, I try to see where I will be better and worse, but to be honest, this morning I accused a little plus some sensations that I felt, but in the end we are all close to the top ten and we have to continue to strive for tomorrow”.

“When you see that you always make mistakes,” he added, “because I always went wide in turn one, we changed something at the front because we understood that something was not adjusted.”

Asked how he saw Quartararo, he assured that “Fabio is very fast. For me, he has had one of the best Fridays of the year and if you look at his FP1s he is always the fastest or is among the top two or three. . Our approach was really different on Friday. He was in front early, very constant, I usually take it more calmly”, admitted Bagnaia.

“Our bike does not adapt very quickly to all the circuits and it needs a little work, but we know that in the ‘time attack’ it is something that suits me”, the Ducati rider assured.

On whether he prefers to start at the front on Sunday and fight for victory or ride calmly in the middle of the pack because it’s worth it to be 14th if Quartararo doesn’t win He says that “Being in the group is scarier to me than being in the lead, because in front you always give one hundred percent, while in the back there is usually a fight, especially in the beginning. So it will be very important to do something good FP3 , go straight to Q2 and try to be in the first two rows. The aim is to be first.”