Pecco Bagnaia wary of “false hope” after Barcelona MotoGP recovery

Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia says he leaves the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix avoiding “giving myself false hope” after he charged from 21st on the grid to seventh on Sunday.

The double world champion came to Barcelona filled with hope that a radical set-up change at Balaton Park would allow him to battle at the front this weekend.

But that set-up didn’t work at the Catalan Grand Prix, with Pecco Bagnaia a three-year worst 21st on the grid and a second off the pace of his team-mate Marc Marquez in the sprint.

On Sunday, Bagnaia jumped from 21st to 12th on the opening lap and ended up seventh at the chequered flag in a dramatic turnaround to his Catalan Grand Prix weekend.

However, he is refusing to build this step forward up as anything meaningful until he begins the Misano round next weekend.

“I don't want to give myself any more false hopes,” he told Sky Italy.

“In the end, I was very confident that I'd arrive here after Balaton and feel right at home, but instead it was one of the most complicated weekends ever.

“Not just this year, but in my career with the factory Ducati.

“I'm coming to Misano as cautiously as possible, trying to keep the pressure off because we know how unique a track it is.

“There's a lot of grip, but you have to be in good shape, so I don't want to give myself or anyone else false hopes. We'll go there cautiously and try to do our best.”

Bagnaia says his stronger Sunday form at Barcelona - where he won at twice last year - was down to a swingarm change as well as having more grip by running the full race fuel tank.

“In terms of feeling, I felt a little better today,” he added.

“In the end, I managed to get a little more grip this morning thanks to the swingarm, but also thanks to the large fuel tank.

“That little bit of extra grip gave me the confidence to go into the corners faster without the constant movement that bothered me all weekend.

“I felt better this morning. In the race, I started really strong and managed to overtake, which is never easy this year, so that was positive.

“Unfortunately, to get back ahead of [Fabio] Quartararo, I pushed a little too hard and wasn't able to manage the rear tyre; he was better at managing it, and in the final laps I was struggling more.

“However, starting from 21st place, there can be a thousand unknowns.

“Finishing higher than seventh today was possible because the goal could have been fifth place. But you can never expect too much starting from there.”