After the memorable duel for victory with Marc Marquez in Jerez de la Frontera, Francesco Bagnaia wants to continue the positive trend and goes into the next race weekend with important ambitions. Pecco will be one of the most anticipated protagonists at Le Mans for the 2024 French Grand Prixvalid as the fifth seasonal round of the MotoGP.
However, the Ducati rider from Turin will have to make a turnaround compared to recent years on the legendary French circuit, in which for various reasons he has never managed to get on the podium since he joined the premier class. Bagnaia’s first world championship appearance at Le Mans dates back to 2013, in which he missed the points as a rookie in Moto3.
From the following season the blue centaur began to collect good results on the Bugatti circuit, obtaining a fourth place in 2014 (with KTM) and a third in 2015 (with Mahindra) and then running into a negative weekend in 2016 (12th, starting 19th). The two-year period in Moto2, however, proved to be triumphalwith a second place as a rookie in 2017 (second podium of his career in the category) and above all with the success in 2018 from pole position.
The track record in MotoGP is decidedly less brilliant, with a retirement and a 13th place between 2019 and 2020 on the Ducati of Team Pramac. Noteworthy is the comeback fourth position in 2021 in a crazy race conditioned by bad weather, while in the last two editions of the French Grand Prix he has suffered just as many crashes (the first in 2022 while he was fighting with Bastianini for the victory, the second in 2023 after a contact with Viñales in the opening stages) although he partially compensated with a good third place in last year’s Sprint.
