Pecco Bagnaia’s Ducati engine “safe” after “scary” Japan MotoGP smoking issue

Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia says the “scary” smoking issue on his bike at the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix was caused by a faulty filter, but the engine is “safe” to keep using.

The double world champion held a commanding lead last Sunday at Motegi when his GP25 began puffing smoke from the rear.

The issue continued through to the chequered flag, with Pecco Bagnaia avoiding any terminal problems on his way to a first win since the Americas Grand Prix in March.

Ahead of this weekend’s Indonesian Grand Prix, he revealed that the issue was a result of a faulty engine filter, but that it hasn’t led to him losing that unit from his allocation for the season.

“I think they explained it to me well, but I didn’t understand it well,” he said on Thursday.

“The thing is that the engine is safe.

“It was a little filter that wasn’t working good, so it started to smoke a bit.

“Luckily it wasn’t unsafe. When I saw the race back, honestly, it was quite scary.

“But luckily I finished the race and I didn’t get any penalty. It’s good that the engine is safe.”

How life has changed for Pecco Bagnaia since Japan breakthrough

Bagnaia comes to the Indonesian Grand Prix off the back of his best weekend of the year, as changes to his bike at the Misano test allowed him to claim pole, sprint win and main race victory.

He and Ducati have remained coy on what changed on his bike, but it is thought a switch to GP24 forks, swingarm and ride height device helped give him back confidence in the front-end of the GP25.

Asked how different he feels coming to Mandalika, Bagnaia replied: “What changed the most is the approach to this weekend and the confidence on arriving to this weekend, because I know that my package now can give to me more potential, more performance.

“So, I will try to start well again. And this makes our work easier, because we don’t need to search for anything more.

“So, we’ve just decided to start with the same bike as Motegi and see what to do during the race weekend.

“But we will see after the Friday, and not really the days before trying to figure out different problems.”

Bagnaia is now 66 points behind Alex Marquez in the battle for second with five rounds to go and predicts an “intense” scrap with the Gresini rider.

“I will try to get the best result as possible to finish as far in front as I can,” he added.

“Second position is the maximum goal right now this season.

“So, I will try to do the maximum. Alex has done a fantastic job this season.

“Maybe the last GP he was struggling a bit more, but I think the fight will be intense and 66 points is a lot but we will try to do our maximum.”