Bagnaia: I really just want to stop ‘Quartararo’, can be a great battle

Francesco Bagnaia will start the Mugello MotoGP race directly behind his main title rival Fabio Quartararo after qualifying second. 

Bagnaia’s second place finish in Q2 came after the Italian had broken Marc Marquez’ circuit record from 2019 in FP3, however, this was topped once again by Quartararo during qualifying. 

There are several riders in contention for victory based on race run simulations, but for Bagnaia, it’s very much a case of eyes being set on Quartararo and stopping the French rider from making a break. 

Following qualifying, Bagnaia said: "To finish in the front row is the best result possible so I’m happy. Fabio [Quartararo] did an amazing job today, because 1m 45.1s is something that’s very, very difficult - just when thinking about it. 

"I think that our bike in this track are really balanced. In the first sector and last sector we are very strong. On the sector two we are very close, and in the sector three they (Yamaha) are faster than us. 

"So it’s really balanced and tomorrow I think that the race can be very nice to see. It can be a great battle. 

"I really just want to stop him (Fabio Quartararo) on the first lap, because for sure he will like to open a gap and then just see what will happen." 

Conditions are expected to be cooler than what we saw during qualifying today which could affect tyre choices that teams and riders may otherwise have been set on using. 

The Ducati rider believes everyone will choose medium tyres on both the front and rear, even though the medium ‘is a bit too soft’ for his liking. 

"I think everybody will choose medium/medium. We didn’t decide yet which front tyre to use because the medium is a bit too soft and the hard is a bit too hard," added the 24 year-old. 

"It’s very difficult to understand and to choose. If tomorrow will be colder than today and it looks like it will be like this, I think all the riders will choose medium/medium."