Bagnaia (Ducati) at the Red Bull Ring: “Keep your head down and keep trying”

Ducati works rider Pecco Bagnaia’s run of bad luck continues at the Austrian Grand Prix. Following his crash at the MotorLand Aragon Grand Prix and, in particular, the fiasco at his home race in Misano – where, once again, the event ended without any World Championship points and with further damage to his bike and his pride – the Italian is hoping for a turnaround in Styria.

The practice sessions have been sobering so far. Both FP1 and the crucial qualifying session ended with a disappointing 18th place. Still, in qualifying, the gap to frontrunner Pedro Acosta (KTM) had narrowed from 1.1 to 0.88 seconds. Nevertheless, no other Ducati rider was slower. Team-mate Marquez goes into Q2 in fourth place. Fermin Aldeguer fared even better in second place, whilst Di Gianntonio (6th) and Alex Marquez (8th) also qualified flawlessly for the Austrian Grand Prix.

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Foto: Gold and Goose

Pecco Bagnaia’s appearance before the media was correspondingly matter-of-fact. The problems that have been plaguing the double world champion since the Assen Grand Prix are also present on this high-speed circuit. Bagnaia, winner of the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix: “The situation remains unchanged. I’m lacking the feeling I need. During deceleration, I lose rear grip and then I can’t get the corner entry right.”

The Lenovo rider soberly set out the plan for Saturday’s sprint: “There’s no point – we just have to keep our heads down and try to understand everything.” And yet, even in this situation – in which number 63 has dropped to 9th place in the World Championship – there is no desire to take radical measures. Bagnaia confirmed: “We won’t be making any major changes to the bike on Saturday.”

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The situation surrounding Pecco Bagnaia therefore remains as intriguing as it is curious, not least because the race at Motegi is just around the corner. A year ago, Bagnaia found himself in a similar grip crisis, finishing 8th at Spielberg and scoring no points at Misano, only to then triumph twice out of nowhere in Japan.