Francesco Bagnaia takes chassis gamble: “Important to try something different”

Francesco Bagnaia rolled the dice on Friday at the German MotoGP by reintroducing a Ducati chassis first trialled during last year’s Misano test.

The Ducati Lenovo rider completed back-to-back runs, sacrificing time-attack preparation to gather comparison data. That also meant there was a bigger risk of missing out on a top ten place for direct Qualifying 2 access.

However, Bagnaia was able to secure ninth on the timesheets and, despite electing to have both bikes on his standard chassis for Saturday, feels the alternative design can offer an advantage at other circuits.

“It was important to try something different,” Sky Italia report Bagnaia as saying. “By testing a frame in practice, we accepted the risk of being outside the top 10 for Q2. And we weren't far from [missing out].”

Bagnaia had liked the chassis on a GP24 at last year’s Misano test, but new developments were then paused in order not to influence the title fight with Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin.

Before the Sachsenring, the double world champion had only had time to try it once more, at this year's Sepang test.

While the chassis provided encouraging rear grip on Friday, the trade-off came in the form of front-end movement, particularly under braking. An issue Bagnaia has struggled with for much of the year.

“I like it, it gives a lot of grip, it helps the bike turn, but it tends to make the front move a lot. On a track like this, it's not the best,” he said.

“But we'll definitely try it again in the future because I think it’s a chassis that has great potential on tracks where there’s more grip.”

With rain forecast for qualifying and the Sprint, Bagnaia confirmed both of his bikes will return to the standard chassis from Saturday onwards.

Bagnaia will start the Sprint 58 points behind Alex Marquez and 126 adrift of Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez.

“Scary” telemetry from di Giannantonio

While Bagnaia focused on his testing programme, he couldn’t help but be impressed by the blistering pace of VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio, who shattered the Sachsenring lap record while shadowing Marc Marquez.

“Diggia has always been strong here and managed to set a great time. He managed to follow Marc throughout today,” Bagnaia said.

“Who better than him to teach you how to go fast at the Sachsenring?

“I saw the telemetry, and it was scary, very good.

“Following Marc is always difficult because we start at different times and in any case, I think it's not easy to be pulled along.

“In general, I don’t like following others. I look at his telemetry, I know where he makes the difference [here], and I try to do the same.”

The injured Alex Marquez was second fastest on Friday, with Marc pushed down to third during the time attacks - but strongest on used tyres.