Pecco Bagnaia at a loss after crash: “Something’s been wrong since Silverstone!”

Pecco Bagnaia finished the MotoGP Sprint at Aragon in 11th place, meaning the Ducati factory rider came away empty-handed and failed to score any points. In Sunday’s Grand Prix, Bagnaia got off to a good start from 8th on the grid. In the opening laps, he settled into 7th place ahead of his brand-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46). Then the two-time MotoGP World Champion lost touch with the leading group. By the end of the fifth lap, he was already two seconds behind the Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez, who was riding ahead of him. Then came the drama: Bagnaia crashed on lap 6 whilst in 7th place – the race was over for him.

“I got off to a decent start and tried to keep up with the group in front of me. I wasn’t competitive enough to do that, especially when it came to acceleration. I had zero grip. After just five laps, I had to change the engine mapping to preserve the tyres,” explained the frustrated Italian. “I was just trying to maintain my pace, but then I crashed at a spot where I’d already been warned on the previous lap. The rear end broke away, and just as I was getting it back under control, the front wheel buckled.”

Willkommen zum Rennen in Aragón

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Jorge Martin

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Fans

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Marc Márquez

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Fermin Aldeguer

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Fermin Aldeguer, Alex Márquez, Franco Morbidelli, Fabio Di Giannantonio

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Start des Rennens

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Moreira und Bastianini

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Marc Márquez

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Pecco Bagnaia

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Alex Márquez

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Fabio Di Giannantonio

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Pedro Acosta

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Brad Binder

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Fermin Aldeguer

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Marc Márquez und Pedro Acosta

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Jorge Martin

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Marc Márquez gewinnt das Rennen

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Pedro Acosta, Marc Márquez, Marco Bezzecchi

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Willkommen zum Rennen in Aragón

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Zero points at Silverstone and Aragon

Bagnaia suffered a disaster in the first two Grands Prix of the second half of the season. At Silverstone, he finished only 17th in the Sprint and retired from the main race. In Aragon, he was again unable to score any points. In the overall standings, he is eighth, already 113 points behind championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia).

“Up until the Sachsenring, the feeling wasn’t too bad. Everything was working a bit more consistently. I did have my difficulties, but the results were better. Something’s happened since Silverstone. I’ve got zero grip,” puzzled the 29-year-old. “I don’t know what it’ll be like when we get to circuits where the grip level is even lower. On Saturday morning, I felt a bit better on the bike. We tried to get a bit more weight onto the rear tyre. But in the sprint race, it was still worse. On Sunday morning, we went back to the set-up that we’ve more or less been using all season. The warm-up was a disaster for various reasons. In the race, the rear tyre was finished after five laps.”

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Pecco Bagnaia hatte auch in Aragon kein gutes Gefühl

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Team-mate Marc Márquez swept the board at Aragon with two wins. The MotoGP World Championship continues in two weeks’ time at Misano. The track on the Adriatic coast offers plenty of grip, and Pecco Bagnaia also trains there regularly with his mates from the VR46 Academy. The signs are good that he’ll have a more successful race weekend at his home Grand Prix.