Francesco Bagnaia: "I need to solve it before the Sprint…"

Francesco Bagnaia was happy with his time attack and race pace during Friday practice for the Spanish MotoGP - but admits he’s still searching for front-end improvements ahead of Saturday’s qualifying and Sprint race.

Ducati’s double world champion finished second to Gresini’s Alex Marquez at the end of a frantic afternoon hour, meaning he outpaced team-mate and title leader Marc Marquez (fourth).

“Happy for the result,” Bagnaia said, “because I was competitive with new medium tyres, new soft, even used tyres.

“But I don’t feel very comfortable on corner entry with the brake,” he said. “I still feel that the rear is pushing a bit the front, and it's not something I like, so I need to solve it before the Sprint race.

“In corners like Turn 5 and Turn 9 where I was super strong last year, I’m struggling more this weekend,” he added. “So tomorrow morning we’ll try something to do another step.”

That will be in final practice, after which Bagnaia will seek an error-free qualifying.

“I just hope I don’t make the same mistake I did in Qatar qualifying,” he said. “I think the potential is there to fight for the top three, to fight for the win. But we need to do another little step tomorrow.”

After struggling with the smaller fuel tank in several Sprints this year, including Qatar, the Italian confirmed he tried some modifications on Friday.

“We tried something small this morning and it wasn’t bad. In the Sprint maybe we’ll add it to the bike,” he said. “But the problem is when there’s a lot of slipstream – that’s when I feel worse.”

Asked who he sees as the main threats heading into Saturday, Bagnaia was quick to point to a familiar rival.

“Marc in this moment is like in the last races – he’s the strongest,” he said. 

“Alex [Marquez] is risking quite a lot and committed two mistakes but was very strong on the time attack. Fabio [Quartararo] is also very competitive. 

"But right now, I would say Marc is the man to beat.”

Bagnaia, who beat then Gresini rider Marc Marquez in a thrilling duel a year ago, will be chasing a fourth Spanish MotoGP victory in a row on Sunday.