Ducati issues worrying verdict on Pecco Bagnaia’s wet struggles at German MotoGP

Ducati MotoGP team boss Davide Tardozzi admits “we don’t know” why Pecco Bagnaia struggled with rear grip as much as he did during Saturday’s wet running at the German Grand Prix.

All of Saturday’s action at the Sachsenring was run in wet conditions, with double world champion Pecco Bagnaia struggling immensely in qualifying and the sprint.

In qualifying, he was 11th on the timesheets and almost two seconds shy of his polesitting team-mate Marc Marquez with a lap that would have seen him 19th on the grid had he been in Q1.

In the sprint he failed to make any progress, with Bagnaia a distant 12th at the chequered flag and out of the points.

He later complained a of a total lack of rear grip in the race, which is not something he has encountered before, having as recently as last October won in the wet in Thailand.

Ducati worried by Pecco Bagnaia woe

Tardozzi says Ducati is at a loss to explain this problem and believes it also conditions his dry race on the Sunday.

“We don’t know,” he said when TNT Sport asked him what went wrong with Bagnaia in the sprint.

“We don’t know, because what he was complaining about was a total absence of rear grip.

“This morning [in warm-up] was a bit better, but anyway we don’t know exactly what the problem was yesterday.

“Today was not so bad. I think he had in mind yesterday’s race, so he didn’t push hard to try to be second because the podium was enough.”

Tardozzi insists Bagnaia’s Saturday struggles in Germany weren’t anything to do with the lack of front end confidence he has been battling all season.

The Ducati team boss also believes Ducati has made good strides in this area to help Bagnaia.

“In this moment, this lack of grip on the rear tyre,” he added.

“In Assen I think we did a good step ahead. He was only third, but 2.7 seconds from Marc.

“So, he did a very good race. Here, we still don’t know why he faced this lack of grip on the rear in the wet.”

Bagnaia finished the grand prix in third, though was staring at a fifth-place finish had it not been for crashes for Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi ahead of him.

He is now 147 points off the championship lead with half of the season now elapsed.