Francesco Bagnaia on "incredible" pole: “I can do what I want with my bike”
Francesco Bagnaia said “I can do what I want with my bike” after storming to MotoGP pole at Motegi.
Francesco Bagnaia underlined his MotoGP revival by storming to pole position with a new Motegi lap record in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.
After a season plagued by front-end issues, the double world champion arrived in Japan cautiously optimistic that “unconventional” Misano test solutions would transfer to Motegi.
The Sprint, where Bagnaia has often struggled with the half-sized fuel tank, is yet to come.
Nonetheless, it's so far so good, the Italian confirming his pace with a close fourth (+0.2s) in final practice, then blasting to pole ahead of Honda's Joan Mir and factory Ducati ream-mate Marc Marquez.
“The truth is that Marc last year did the first 1m 42, but it was not official because he touched the green,” Bagnaia smiled in parc ferme.
“But in any case, I’m happy. I don't want to say [I’m back] but it's incredible right now, the feeling that I'm having.”
“I can do what I want”
Reverting to unspecified older components on the GP25 has so far helped restore the braking confidence Bagnaia has been missing all year.
“I feel I can push, I feel that I can do what I want with my bike,” said the Italian, who won both Motegi races, among 18 wins last season, but has only a COTA victory to his credit in 2025.
“It was something that I was missing from last year. So super happy with it.”
Motegi may have been Bagnaia’s second pole of the season, after Brno, but this time it was without incidents and yellow flags.
“It’s true that in Brno, I already did a pole position this season, but honestly, I don't know why I did that! This time, I knew that it was coming, pushing like this.
“I want to say thanks to the team that did an amazing job last night to try to give me two specs of the bike in a very similar way.
"We started the weekend with the setup of Misano, but it was difficult to do it for both bikes, so they did an amazing job.”
The 12-lap Motegi MotoGP Sprint starts at 3pm local time.
In this article
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.
