Francesco Bagnaia pinpoints key corners for Le Mans victory push
Francesco Bagnaia pinpoints critical corners to improve at Le Mans for MotoGP victory challenge.
Francesco Bagnaia arrives at this weekend's French MotoGP determined to improve upon last year's third-place finish, when he narrowly missed out on victory after a fierce three-way battle with Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez.
Currently third in the 2025 World Championship standings behind Alex and Marc Marquez, Bagnaia’s only victory so far this season came when new team-mate Marc fell from the lead in COTA.
But the Italian couldn’t fully capitalise on Marc’s latest mistake, at Jerez, where Bagnaia took the chequered flag in a frustrated third behind Alex Marquez and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.
A day of post-racing followed, where Bagnaia re-evaluated a mystery component previously set aside during winter testing - and already used by Marc.
“We tested something that Marc was already using and we will try to use it also," Bagnaia confirmed to MotoGP.com on Thursday.
"Unluckily, the conditions with the wind weren't the best, and it was difficult to find an improvement in the set-up.
“So we are starting with the same setup and we’ll just have something different that I wasn't using before.”
Pressed to identify exactly what the new element might be, Bagnaia replied: “No, I can’t!”
Despite finishing on the wrong end of last year’s victory battle - and absent from the list of five different Ducati riders to have won at Le Mans in the last five years - the former double champion is a fan of the French track and believes improvements in two key corners could make the difference this weekend.
“I hope that I could do the same [as last year], but this time with me winning," Bagnaia smiled. "I think it's a good track for me. If I could improve on the areas where last year I was struggling, that were corner 3 and corner 9 I can have a chance to fight for it.”
Corners 3 and 9 are part of the Dunlop and Chemin Aux Boeufs chicanes.
“I feel good. I always like to ride here. I love the layout, I love the fans. So I feel ready like always,” he added. “It will be important to work like we are doing in the last races, but this time I would like to push a bit more.
“I need to fight for the results and maybe to win.”
Bagnaia and Alex Marquez are the only riders to have scored points in all ten races so far this season.
After five rounds of last year, Bagnaia had already suffered three non-scores, including a Le Mans Sprint DNF due to a technical issue.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
