No points in the Misano Sprint: Pecco Bagnaia remains Ducati’s special case

Even at Misano, on the circuit that Rossi’s protégé cherishes more than almost any other rider – Bagnaia is considered unbeatable on the practice bikes at Misano – the Bagnaia dilemma continues. Right from the start, the two-time world champion – who held the lap record until Q2 of this event – suffered yet another dose of frustration. In qualifying, Q2 remained out of reach.

In Q1 on Saturday morning, the world champion’s team-mate came away empty-handed once again: 14th on the grid for the former Misano high-flyer. Put into figures: Bagnaia was 0.8 seconds slower than his current team-mate – who went on to win the sprint – and a full second slower than his future team-mate, Marco Bezzecchi.

The Turin-born rider had been hoping for a turnaround after FP2. Bagnaia: “Things went a bit better this morning. But when we fitted a new soft tyre in qualifying, it performed just like a used one. Whatever I try – it doesn’t work. Unfortunately, I can’t speak of any feeling on the bike, because I don’t have one.”

In the 13-lap race, the 2022 and 2023 champion then found himself stuck in the same position. Bagnaia was unable to make up any ground, but didn’t lose any places either. He crossed the line in 13th place, just ahead of the KTM trio of Bastianini, Binder and Espargaró – 17 seconds ahead of Marc Márquez.

Willkommen zum Rennwochenende in Misano

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Johann Zarco

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Fans

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Streckenposten

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Franco Morbidelli

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Francesco Bagnaia

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Diogo Moreira

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Jorge Martin

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Toprak Razgatlioglu

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Franco Morbidelli

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Raúl Fernández

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Fabio Quartararo

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Luca Marini

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Pedro Acosta

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Jack Miller

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Alex Márquez führt das Feld an

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Enea Bastianini

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Das Bike von Luca Marini

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Fermin Aldeguer

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Fabio Quartararo

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Joan Mir

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Fabio di Giannantonio

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Diogo Moreira

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Pol Espargaró

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Marc Márquez

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Qualifying - Marc Márquez, Marco Bezzecchi & Fermin Aldeguer

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Sprint - Marco Bezzecchi, Marc Márquez & Jorge Martin

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Willkommen zum Rennwochenende in Misano

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Despite the setback in front of his home fans, Bagnaia kept his composure during the subsequent press conference. The highly decorated Ducati MotoGP rider calmly remarked: “The frustrating thing is that there are no answers to the question of why my bike is an outlier. We can see very clearly that my Ducati behaves completely differently to my colleagues’ Bologna bikes.”

Francesco Bagnaia continued: “But I’ll keep giving it my all to find the right answers. I owe that to myself, and to the people who work with me. We share the same mindset in the team and want to sort this out together. But in the meantime, it’s a fact that the bike has been doing strange things for the last three Grand Prix events, things we don’t understand.”

The ‘attack’ approach isn’t working

In any case, Bagnaia’s ‘attack’ approach didn’t work. “I really pushed – but nothing changed. The feel and the lap times just aren’t there. It’s a massive problem.” Bagnaia gave an example: “When it comes to braking, the current situation is that I can’t slow the bike down as effectively using both brakes as I can with just the front brake. If I brake at the rear, it’s as if I’m riding with the clutch constantly engaged. And that’s just one thing we need to understand.”

“The fact that the bike’s grip doesn’t change, no matter what tyres we fit, shows the scale of the problem. But I’ll continue to give it my all to find a solution,” Bagnaia reiterated.

The Ducati works rider no longer features in the World Championship standings. After his fifth consecutive zero-point finish, Bagnaia sits in eighth place, 120 points adrift.