For Pecco Bagnaia, Mugello remains his unassailable fiefdom for the moment. After the victories in 2022 and the double in 2023 (Saturday and Sunday races), here comes the affirmation in today’s sprint race.
A perfect start from the second spot on the grid burns his rival Jorge Martin at the start, starting from pole position, taking the lead and not giving it up until the checkered flag.
A real domination accompanied by the special support of a special audience like only the Italian one, and in particular the Mugello one, can be. Because if until a few years ago the hills of the Mugello racetrack were inevitably colored with the yellow of Valentino Rossi (now present on the circuit to give the latest advice to the boys of the VR46 Riders academy), now the predominant color is undoubtedly the Ducati red.
It is not for nothing that the Borgo Panigale manufacturer has doubled the grandstands this year, adding a part of the central one in front of the pits to the historic Correntaio one. ”Winning here again is truly incredible and then in front of this crowd. I love them! I enjoyed every lap – said Bagnaia -. The bike works perfectly. Tomorrow it will be tough, but finishing a sprint race is always positive. The motivation here is very high because the audience is fantastic and then listening to the anthem sung like this by everyone (a cappella, ed.) is something that moved me very much.”
ANSA Agency MotoGp, Capirossi: ‘The World Championship goes to Martin, Bagnaia or Marquez’ – News – Ansa.it The safety manager promotes the works at Mugello (ANSA)“I honestly don’t like it when riders are booed – continued the world champion -, I couldn’t stand it on myself in Barcelona, as well as here against my opponents because I think it’s disrespectful, but unfortunately I can’t handle this one. thing, I just hope it gets better.” Bagnaia, however, is aware that he is only halfway there: “Tomorrow I will start fifth – recalled the Piedmontese, penalized by three positions on the grid in the Sunday GP for having obstructed Alex Marquez yesterday – but if I make a start like today’s, I can get in the lead at the first braking point. And then it should be a little cooler, so we’ll see about the tires tomorrow. We could maybe change something for the race, but let’s wait to see the weather.” Another person happy with the result is certainly Marc Marquez (Ducati Gresini), who came second: “We had the pace to win but Pecco was uncatchable and there was no time to recover. It’s a circuit that I’ve never fully digested, but with the Ducati is a completely different story. We managed to compete with the 2024 Ducatis, which still have something more. Maybe we did something wrong at the start, but we are happy today.” Meanwhile, his young compatriot Pedro Acosta (Ktm-Gasgas) celebrated his promotion to the official team for next season on the lowest step of the podium. The real disappointment of the day was certainly Jorge Martin (Ducati Pramac), championship leader, who crashed four laps from the end: “I’m not worried, a perfect weekend is enough for me to recover, it’s better to have crashed today when I was already in difficulty, rather than a ‘other time”. Bagnaia has recovered from his rivals in the standings, reducing the deficit to 27 points, with Marquez third and trailing the Piedmontese by just five points. In the race, no one will give discounts.
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