“I needed to let them go” but Pecco Bagnaia “getting closer” at Brno MotoGP
Pecco Bagnaia celebrates a MotoGP podium double at Brno but admits he is still unable to ride instinctively on the GP26.
Pecco Bagnaia narrowly held off Fabio di Giannantonio to complete a double podium at the Czech Grand Prix.
The Sprint winner again moved into an early lead, but this time he couldn’t shake off his pursuers.
Team-mate Marc Marquez and pole qualifier Ai Ogura overtook the Italian with six laps to go, but Bagnaia had just enough advantage to keep a charging Fabio di Giannantonio at bay for third.
“I’m happy. We are improving. We are getting closer to the pace. Today we just missed the last five-six laps,” Bagnaia said after his fourth grand prix rostrum in a row.
“I knew, looking at Marc and Ai, also from Diggia, that during the weekend I was missing one or two tenths. Today I tried everything in the first laps to control the race, and until lap 16 I was quite confident.
“I was not having vibration [chatter] like yesterday, but I started to have more of a floating feeling [with the rear].
“As soon as I was leading it was better but when Marc overtook me, I started to struggle a lot with the front and I needed to let them go away.
“Then when I was one 1-1.2 behind, I started to push again and the pace was good but not good enough. Was just enough to finish on the podium.
“The last laps I just tried to be precise and finish the race in a good way.
“Today I started struggling a lot with the consumption of the front tyre. We’ll check everything and try to improve for Assen.”
Although much more consistent than last season, Bagnaia still thinks he’s unable to ride instinctively on the GP26.
“I think a bit too much riding the bike. When you are thinking, normally you are losing a bit,” he explained. “When you are riding in a natural way, everything comes more easy.
“It’s a part of the process. Last year I lost a lot of confidence. I need to build the speed and I think it’s something that we are improving.
“We are working well. Maybe today we didn’t do the correct choice on the setup, but it was good enough to understand another way to work.
“Marc was doing a fantastic job all weekend. We are getting closer also because we are pushing a lot looking at the data.
“We are getting closer to Aprilia that this weekend were struggling more than us.”
Bagnaia remains seventh in the world championship but moved to within 53 points from Aprilia’s absent title leader Marco Bezzecchi.
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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.
