Francesco Bagnaia experienced a truly gray Saturday in Texas. The two-time world champion, in fact, did not go beyond eighth position in the Sprint Race of the Grand Prix of the Americas, the third round of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship. Against the splendid backdrop of the track called COTA – Circuit of the Americas
The success in the short distance race went to an excellent Maverick Vinales who won with a 2.2 second margin over Marc Marquez and 4.3 over Jorge Martin who completed an all-Spanish podium. Pedro Acosta was fourth at 6.4 ahead of Aleix Espargarò at 6.6. Sixth Enea Bastianini at 8.6 ahead of Jack Miller seventh at 9.2 ahead of Francesco Bagnaia only eighth at 9.3.
After the Sprint Race the Ducati Factory team rider recounted what happened on the Texan track to the microphones of Sky Sport: “My Sprint Race can be summed up as a lack of grip along with vibrations. In short, everything I had imagined did not come true. Until this morning everything was going great. I had set the best time in FP2, however in the race I was lapping 1.0-1.2 seconds slower. I had no way to push and I felt vibrations. It’s all really strange.”
MotoGP, Viñales dominates the Austin Sprint. Pokerissimo of Spain, Bastianini and Bagnaia in difficulty
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A race that became complicated from the moment the traffic lights went out for the world champion: “At the start I pushed and the bike started to slide behind me. I immediately lost 3-4 positions, then when I got to turn 1 I avoided Jack Miller and lost the same number. Being in the belly of the group complicates all scenarios. Tomorrow? We won’t touch anything. The feeling today was so bad that it wasn’t a question of setting. If you change the tyre, everything will be fine.”
