Francesco Bagnaia gets off to a slow start in Buriram, finishing only 15th in Friday’s practice session. The Ducati star thus misses out on direct entry into Q2.
After the preparatory tests in Sepang (Malaysia) and Buriram (Thailand), Francesco Bagnaia was confident that he had regained his old, good feeling with the further developed Ducati. That’s why the two-time MotoGP world champion was optimistic about the season opener in Buriram this weekend.
But then there was a bitter setback in Friday’s practice. Bagnaia finished 15th, missing out on direct qualification for Q2. He was 1.3 seconds off the pace. His teammate Marc Marquez finished in second place.
What was going on with Bagnaia this time? “When I finish my career, I’ll write a book about this practice session. Nothing, I just… it was more my fault. I didn’t work well. I was far too hectic.”
“Before practice, we decided to change the setup a little. But that went in the wrong direction. And as soon as I saw the sky getting darker, we decided to put on fresh tires to get a better lap.“
”But I really struggled with this setup. And then I was too late. So: my mistake. I need to stay calmer. It could have gone better for the first day of the season, but I just need to stay calmer.”
Nevertheless, Bagnaia is convinced that the result is due to the circumstances, such as the wind and a few raindrops, because he basically feels very comfortable with his bike: “Pretty good. It’s clear that the conditions have changed compared to the test.”
“Maybe it was because of the rain in the past few days, but okay. I was pretty happy with the bike this morning. We struggled a bit with tire wear, and we saw that Aprilia was really competitive with Bezzecchi.“
”I think he’s three or four tenths faster at the moment, but the feeling was pretty good.” According to Bagnaia, the problematic behavior of his Ducati last year has been resolved.
“When braking and entering corners, it looks like you can brake later and bring the bike to a stop earlier. That’s a good improvement for me. Yes, it provides more stability.”
