Pace analysis reveals extent of Pecco Bagnaia’s Catalan MotoGP sprint shocker

Pecco Bagnaia struggled to make inroads from a lowly 21st on the grid in the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix sprint, with the Ducati rider 14th after a series of crashes ahead.

The double world champion was a polesitter and twice a winner the last time MotoGP visited Barcelona in November 2024 for the Solidarity Grand Prix.

It marked one of Pecco Bagnaia’s best weekends of the year, as he rode through the pressure of a must-win series of races in his slim hopes of claiming a third world title.

Ultimately, he came up just 10 points short against Jorge Martin. But few could have predicted just how bad things have gotten 10 months later at the 2025 Catalan Grand Prix.

After a difficult Hungary weekend which appeared to represent rock bottom for the Italian’s 2025 season, the Catalan Grand Prix has proven to be even worse.

Despite coming to Barcelona confident that a major set-up change at Balaton Park was set to transform his season, from the off this weekend Bagnaia has been nowhere.

He was out of the top 20 in both sessions on Friday, while in qualifying he registered his worst result in over three years when he limped to 21st on the grid.

The last time he was so low down was in Portugal 2022, when he didn’t even take part in qualifying due to a crash in practice.

With the lap record in qualifying set to a 1m37.5s by Alex Marquez, Bagnaia has managed just four 1m38s laps all weekend.

Coming into the 12-lap sprint, there was little hope of a major step forward from 21st for Bagnaia. Ducati team boss Davide Tardozzi said on the grid that no big changes had been made to the bike and the focus was on Bagnaia’s mental strength.

“No, now it’s time to keep the bike like it is and to keep confidence with this kind of bike and with this set-up,” he said.

Tardozzi added: “We are trying to keep healthy the mental attitude which we think is one part of the small disaster. On the technical side, we are trying hard to help him. But everything follows the same way and the only thing that I’m happy about is that Ducati, Pecco, we are all in line, we all onboard, we were happy when we won, and we are unhappy together facing this kind of problem. But we think we will manage him sooner or later.”

Bagnaia’s Barcelona sprint race makes for grim reading

Saturday at the Catalan Grand Prix looked set to be a rare day of defeat for the GP25, as Gresini’s Alex Marquez on last year’s bike had the measure of Marc Marquez.

Alex Marquez would, however, sensationally crash out of a commanding lead on lap nine of 12 and hand victory to his elder brother. VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, also on a GP25, ended up third.

But without that, the GP25 was set for at least a second and a fourth, after Di Giannantonio got through Q1 and qualified sixth.

Looking at the pace analysis between the three GP25s reveal the extend of Bagnaia’s miserable sprint.

Marc Marquez’s average pace worked out at 1m39.624s, while Di Giannantonio was at 1m39.937s. That represents a difference of 0.313s. Marquez having an extra step relative to the other GP25s is typical of what we’ve seen in 2025.

Bagnaia at no point in the sprint broke below the 1m40s barrier. Team-mate Marquez, by contrast, did four 1m38s (Bagnaia’s total for the whole weekend), five 1m39s and three 1m40s once in the lead.

The pace difference across the race between the factory Ducati pair was 1.010s on average, while Di Giannantonio was 0.697s faster than Bagnaia. The difference between Marquez and Bagnaia’s fastest laps was 1.437s.

Bagnaia was mired in 20th until lap seven when Franco Morbidelli and Jorge Martin collided. Another collision ahead on lap eight for Fermin Aldeguer and Marco Bezzecchi helped Bagnaia to 15th, before Alex Marquez’s fall on the 10th tour bumped the Italian to his finishing position of 14th.

He has been at a loss to explain what is causing his woes this weekend at a circuit he was so strong at last year. Traditionally this year, he has also struggled in sprints on the smaller fuel tank, which seems to make his front-end problems worse.

On his sprint, Bagnaia said: "The emotion is as normal, honestly, finishing in P14 starting in P21. So, I know what I can do, I know my potential. 

"But right now, the potential is to finish like this. So, we need to accept it. We need to work. Tomorrow we have another chance to improve in the warm-up. 

"And if I can find something, a good result will be to finish in the top 10. If not, [the result will be] like today."