Pecco Bagnaia turned into the pits: “It was getting worse and worse”

A year ago at Motegi, Pecco Bagnaia had every reason to celebrate: he won both the Sprint and the Grand Prix. He is currently a long way from that. He had to race in Q1 on Saturday and failed to qualify for Q2. “I’d hoped to make it into Q2, but I missed my chance when I went wide at the final chicane,” explained Bagnaia. That left him with 13th on the grid.

Der zerfetzte Hinterreifen von Pecco Bagnaia

Foto: motogp.com

Little chance of points – frustration in the pits instead

Right from the start, Bagnaia got off to a decent start and benefited from the crash at Turn 3, in which Alex Márquez (Gresini Ducati) took out Pedro Acosta (KTM) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati). After that, however, he barely made any headway in the midfield. On the final lap, he finally turned into the pit lane. The TV footage showed why: his soft rear tyre was completely shredded in the centre.

“This morning I was able to go faster than yesterday,” said Bagnaia. “But the main problem was the grip on the rear tyre.” In the sprint, he had made up positions following the triple crash. “There was a chance to finish ninth. But halfway through the race, I started struggling with vibrations. It got worse and worse with every lap until I had to stop. It’s a shame, but that’s the way it is.”

Is the medium tyre the only way to get through the race?

Bagnaia wasn’t the only one with this problem. World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia) also struggled with an overheated rear tyre and said that for him the problem had been “worse than for Pecco”. The Ducati rider sees the root cause more in his own lack of grip. “If we sort out our grip problem, we can identify the actual issue.”

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For Sunday’s 24-lap race – for which Michelin had originally classified the soft rear tyre as suitable for the race distance – he is leaning towards the harder compound: “I think the medium tyre will be the better choice.”