At Mugello, the battle for third place comes down to a dramatic finish—Ai Ogura goes all in, but Francesco Bagnaia strikes back in the final meters
At the Italian Grand Prix, third place was decided in the final meters in a close duel. After Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) had to let the Aprilia duo of Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin pull away, his lap times dropped sharply in the final quarter of the race.
From behind, Ai Ogura (Trackhouse-Aprilia) was closing in more and more. Around the halfway point of the race, the Japanese rider was about six seconds behind Bagnaia. By the start of the final lap, Ogura had caught up to the Ducati.
“When I went into the final lap with a 1.4-second lead over Ogura, I said to myself: He’s going to catch up because he’s usually incredibly strong in the final laps,” Bagnaia described his thoughts.
“And then I heard his bike in Turn 12 and said: Okay, I have to brake harder in the final corner than I actually can to not give him any room. And if he tries to pass me, we’ll be carried wide.”
That’s exactly what happened. Ogura dived inside at Bucine, the final corner, but couldn’t hold the apex and was carried wide. Bagnaia, in turn, took advantage of that gap.
At the corner exit, Bagnaia was in the lead. His Ducati accelerated toward the finish line, leaving the Aprilia no chance. “My bike was a real rocket, so it was hard to pass me again.”
“In the last corner, the rear wheel was spinning badly, so I just tried to get the best possible exit. I leaned forward hard so the bike wouldn’t wheelie.”
“That was enough to stay on the podium. But also thanks to my engine, because it was really very strong. So the strategy was right, but at the limit—maybe a little too close to the limit.“
”Because losing the podium like that in the last corner, after a race like this, would have been an emotional disaster. So I gave it everything I had. I gave my absolute maximum today.”
Still, Bagnaia was lucky, because the lap counter on his display showed the wrong number. “I was a bit confused because my bike was still showing two laps to go.”
“Yes, two laps on the display, but then I came out of the last corner and saw the checkered flag. That’s when I said, ‘Okay, thanks, thank you very much. Thank you very much, because one more lap would have made it impossible to stay in front.’”
Ogura puts his comeback into perspective
Ogura missed third place by just 0.034 seconds. Immediately after the race, the Japanese rider’s disappointment was evident in the pits. But he knew it would have been difficult to overtake Bagnaia anyway.
“The move on the last lap was just… I mean, sure, I gave it my best, but I knew I wouldn’t finish on the podium,” says Ogura.
“I told myself: If I just finish this race behind ‘Pecco,’ then that’s not really… So I gave it a shot. I knew he’d come back, but that’s okay.”
At Mugello, it was once again striking that Ogura was among the fastest riders in the field—if not the fastest—in the final quarter of the race. His comeback runs are now a regular feature in almost every race.
He puts it into perspective, though: “Yes, but they used the tire at the start to open up a gap, and I didn’t use it at the start. So it depends on when you want to use the tire.”
“That varies from rider to rider. I think they used the tire at the start to open up a gap. That was their strategy. My strategy was to conserve the tire and save some for the end.”
In the World Championship, Ogura overtook his teammate Raul Fernandez again and is fifth. Bagnaia is seventh in the World Championship after his second third-place finish in a row.