There Sprint Race of the GP of the Americas was dominated by a Maverick Viñales in great shape, front to Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin. And while the Aprilia rider practically governed the fast race without major mental worries, even drawing a blank, those who instead chewed bitterly were Francesco Bagnaia, started fourth on the grid but fell to the tail end of the top ten due to a bad start.
GP of the Americas, Bagnaia’s disastrous start in the Sprint Race
There Ducati GP24 of the reigning world champion has in fact suffered a small surge once the clutch is released when starting. From the first reconstructions there was talk of a lack of grip with consequent vibration of the two wheels, which thus pushed Pecco into the central area of the race, finishing tenth and then making a small comeback towards eighth place with 9 seconds delay, barely touching the stitch area.
With a world ranking which however always sees Martin first at 67 points, while Bagnaia is fourth at 28 points behind his rival. Second place instead with 43 points for the other official Ducati rider, Enea Bastianini, who in this Sprint placed sixth at the finish line.
Bastianini: “I was surprised by the lack of grip today with the Ducati”
Bastianini himself confirmed the lack of grip on Sky Sport. “It was a surprise, we had never encountered something like this. I struggled throughout the race, even though I maintained my times from the start and recovered positions.”
Then the driver commented on the fact that he could be among the contenders for the title, given his momentary position in the standings (but the season is still very long): “I would like it – he admitted – but we’re still missing a little something, we have to find it. If we continue to work like this we can do better.”
Bastianini then concluded, touching on the topic of rubber: “Let’s say that the soft tire has worn out quite a bit in this Sprint, tomorrow we have to evaluate the medium. It’s true that I usually preserve the tyres, but with this MotoGP this thing became more complicated. Difficulty in rhythm? Let’s say that our guys always work very well, I’m sure they will find a solution tomorrow. I’ve never had grip problems like this.”
Bagnaia: “Too many vibrations, everything went wrong today”
It is then the turn of Pecco, who again commented bitterly to Sky Sport, while maintaining a nervous smile: “Unfortunately everything I would have imagined was not present today. Until this morning everything was perfect, even doing the best lap at the end of FP2, today in the race I was a second, a second and two slower, there was no way to push: too many vibrations, I pushed at the start, everything was bad today.”
“We will only change the tire for tomorrow”
Again, Bagnaia analyzed: “At the same time as I started the rear end came up and I was sliding. I had to release the clutch and I lost positions. And from there it gets very complicated. it was all complicated. The interventions before the start? They decided to change the mudguard before leaving, but it didn’t make any difference. The problem was the surge that made me lose some positions, then at turn 2 Miller had a problem and I had to brake, and the others overtook me. I lacked push out of the corners and therefore arrived late.”
Finally Pecco concluded: “Today the feeling was so bad that tomorrow I’m sure that without touching anything, just changing tires, everything will be fine. We won’t touch anything – he reiterated – we have time to analyze things and from that point of view we will take the step.”
MotoGP Austin, GP of the Americas: where to watch it live on TV and streaming, race times
