‘Difficult to know why’ - Pecco Bagnaia found no solution to Ducati MotoGP struggles

Pecco Bagnaia says it’s “difficult to know why” he continued to battle a lack of rear grip at the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix, after crashing out of Sunday’s race.

The double world champion’s difficult season continued on home soil at Misano, as he failed to advance out of Q1 and struggled to 13th in the sprint.

His grand prix didn’t go much better, after he crashed out of the race at Turn 2 on the sixth lap.

It ended a San Marino Grand Prix in which he said he felt “humiliated” by his ongoing grip struggles, which no other Ducati rider is experiencing.

“I was trying,” Pecco Bagnaia said.

“I had a better start compared to yesterday, so I tried to follow [Fabio] Di Giannantonio after Franky [Morbidelli] had the long lap penalty to serve.

“I just tried to follow him, and as soon as I had a bit more spin, in corner two I lost the front again.

“So, unluckily another crash, unluckily another difficult weekend. But the situation is this and we need to work with what we have.

“Difficult to know and to answer, because at Brno the level of grip is high and similar to this one.

“But in Brno, my feeling was better. My problem with the rear grip was less.

“This weekend I was in a very difficult situation with the grip, because I was feeling zero.

“And I was speaking with other Ducati riders, saying that the grip was high but I wasn’t feeling that.

“So, difficult to know why, but it is what it is and we have to continue and keep working and try to solve the things.”

The championship moves to the Red Bull Ring this weekend of the Austrian Grand Prix, an event Bagnaia has previously dominated at.

But Bagnaia’s grip issues may well be compounded by the fact Michelin brings a stiffer rear tyre carcass to the Red Bull Ring.

“It’s a good track for Ducati, one of the best for me,” he said when asked about Austria.

“When I was feeling good on the bike, I was winning races with a lot of seconds of gap.

“So, it’s a very good track for me, but we will need to understand when we arrive there what we will feel.”