After the disappointing retirement in the Sprint, today’s podium can only be welcomed positively by Francesco Bagnaia. Obviously, his goal was to get on the top step of the podium and being beaten by Marc Marquez on the last lap, finishing third, is something he would have gladly avoided. There are now 38 points separating him from Jorge Martin, winner and leader of the standings.
MotoGP Le Mans, Bagnaia’s post-race analysis
The reigning champion analyzed his race today on Sky Sport MotoGP: “The thing I regret the most is not having won. I did my best, but in the end they had more. Unfortunately I struggled a bit, unable to be fast in sector 3. However, the result is good, considering what happened yesterday. We can be happy. I missed something, let’s try again in Barcelona“.
On the last lap, were you too focused on Martin and didn’t think about the possible overtaking by Marquez? This is Pecco’s response: “My idea was to stay attached to Jorge. I couldn’t pass him at turn 7, a corner I wanted to try. I wanted to try in number 13, where I was strong compared to him, but Marc was very good in number 9. There I couldn’t brake very hard, I always lost something. Marquez was incisive and overtook me, then he was very strong at the penultimate corner and I wasn’t able to get back in. Maybe we missed not having done the sprint yesterday, but they had a little more. We will work to improve“.
Pecco is waiting for Barcelona and Mugello
The official Ducati rider was asked about the fact that he didn’t have an extra to win, and whether yesterday’s crash might have influenced him and pushed him not to risk scoring another zero: “Here at Le Mans I finished the first race of recent years. I didn’t have what I had in Jerez. I was able to be more incisive than Jorge in some points and he was in others, he never found me in a situation where I could overtake him.. I made a mistake in not taking advantage of the long shot he made at the third corner with two laps to go. However it was difficult, the pace was high throughout the race“.
Barcelona and Mugello are the next events on the MotoGP calendar and Bagnaia likes them, who hopes to be able to recover points on Martin: “It was a good weekend here, unfortunately what happened in the Sprint happened. We certainly hope it doesn’t happen again. I like the next tracks. Even in Barcelona I didn’t finish the races in recent years, but I’ve always been strong and we’ll try again. Then comes Mugello, it will be the home race and we need it“.
Photo: Ducati Corse
