Bagnaia: VR46 training will help with title ‘fight’

After seeing what had once been a 66-point advantage over Martin turn into a 7 point deficit on Saturday in Indonesia, Bagnaia was in danger of losing further ground as the Pramac Ducati pulled clear in the Sunday grand prix.

But Martin made a shock mistake, falling from the lead, while Bagnaia had already charged from 13th to 3rd.

The reigning champion then passed Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales to end a four-round victory drought and return to the top of the standings by 18 points heading into Australia this weekend.

“It was great, absolutely. It was a difficult period and finally being able to win again with this performance, starting from P13, is fantastic,” said Bagnaia, seated next to Martin on Thursday.

“What I'm very happy about also is the feeling with the bike. Was incredible. I was very happy with the braking, the grip. Compared to the Saturday already it was so much better and it's a great, great push for the rest of the season.”

“I was not expecting for sure, to be the leader again [last Sunday]” Bagnaia insisted. “Because I was doing a really good job, third already in three laps, and I was seeing that Jorge was always in the same position.

“But 2-3 laps before he crashed, he started to push really, really hard. And then he crashed. So when I saw him crash, I just thought to be calm. I knew that I was managing the rear tyre perfectly. And when I saw ten laps remaining, I just tried to be closer to Maverick and overtake him for the win.”

While confident his speed is back, the Italian also revealed that the intense training sessions with the likes of Marco Bezzecchi, Luca Marini and Franco Morbidelli at Valentino Rossi’s VR46 ranch have sharpened his battling skills.

“For me [the ranch is] helpful more for the battles and for the consistency because it's true that for the feeling with the gas, with the sliding it’s a good training. But where we are improving, I think, is on the battles.

"We are always battling a lot. At the ranch, the sessions we are doing are quite intense.”

Should the title leaders go head-to-head on track this weekend, Bagnaia also feels his riding style gives a natural edge over Martin in braking.

“He’s good on the traction, acceleration. [His] weak point is not a weak point - because without this riding style he can't exit fast as he's doing - is the braking,” Bagnaia said.

Martin agreed: “Yeah. From Pecco it’s the opposite. He's very good on braking and maybe he's losing on traction.”