“He will arrive” - Pecco Bagnaia feared Ogura charge before Brno MotoGP win

Dramatically hunted down by Ai Ogura at Mugello, Pecco Bagnaia was expecting another attack from the Trackhouse rider after the Japanese settled into second, behind the Italian, early in the Brno MotoGP Sprint.

Adding to the expectation of another late assault, the maiden pole qualifier was running the medium rear tyre, while Bagnaia and factory Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez bucked the trend by opting for the soft.

However, Bagnaia was able to keep Ogura at bay and claim his first victory of the season.

“I feel really good. I was not expecting to win today, but we are working well. I still think too much while I'm riding, but I feel better,” Bagnaia said.

“This track is good and the decision to go with the soft helped me today.

“The first three laps were crucial. I tried to push and after that I just put the safety [engine] map and tried to control the gap.

“I started to have some vibration on lap 4 [of 10]. But lap by lap I understood the way to not lose too much with the vibration.

“So in the last three laps I started to ride in a little different way and it was better. So for tomorrow we need to do something on the setup, but also riding like this we learn.”

"He will arrive"

Bagnaia admitted he had flashbacks of Mugello, where Ogura carved through from 13th to snatch the final podium place from the Ducati rider at the last corner, before Bagnaia successfully retaliated on the exit.

“Honestly, when I saw that after two laps he was already there [in second], I said, ‘OK, I said, OK, he will arrive soon, surely. He's on the medium, he will arrive'.

“But then, compared to other tracks and other situations I feel a bit better with used tyres. And I knew that controlling the acceleration today was good enough to not let him have any chance.”

Bagnaia’s victory was his first since a Sprint win at last year’s Malaysian round.