Mugello "perfect for Ducati", but Pecco Bagnaia raises tyre consumption concerns

Pecco Bagnaia was the second of five Ducati riders inside the top six during Friday practice for the Italian MotoGP at Mugello.

The factory Ducati rider lapped just 0.091s behind VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio during the afternoon session.

Meanwhile, the title-leading Aprilias of Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin were only seventh and eighth on the timesheets.

“I think this track suits perfectly to Ducati. And my riding style,” Bagnaia said.

Bagnaia’s run of home victories came to a frustrating end when he was pushed off the podium in last year’s grand prix, won by team-mate Marc Marquez.

The former double champion credited recent progress with the handling of his GP26 for the strong Friday form.

“From Jerez I can let the bike turn more. I still need another step, but it's already an improvement,” he explained.

“Compared to last year when I was struggling quite a lot with turning, this year it's helping me.

“But I feel that the bike is making more movement in the entrance of the corners, so we are trying to rebalance it a bit.

“But nothing big, because right now I feel good.”

Bagnaia’s main concern heading into Saturday is the amount of tyre wear on the soft rear.

“First of all, we need to understand the tyres. Not the front, because it's clear that it will be the medium, but the rear,” he said.

“I did the afternoon session with the soft, this morning with the medium.

“With the soft rear I feel quite good, but the drop was huge. Very huge. I didn't expect something like that.

“I think that the level of grip is worse compared to last year, so we need to set-up everything a bit more.

“I feel quite good with the rest. We just need to see the tyre consumption in the sprint.”

Team-mate Marc Marquez was sixth on his return to MotoGP action.