English
Italiano
Pecco Bagnaia had a convoy behind him in qualifying today. These are the burdens of being fast but, all in all, the Ducati rider makes the best of a bad situation, and he’s not that worried about the position he lost in favor of Marquez, thanks to his slipstream. But Saturday at Phillip Island was positive for other reasons. Once again, the FP4 helped him find the key to the problem.
Pecco starts by talking about the qualifications.
“At the first exit lap, but especially in the second, I had many riders behind me. Even if I had turned off the throttle, I knew no one would pass me. I slowed down, with the idea of pushing if I was still ahead. I’m not fighting for the title against Marquez, so it made no sense not to push.”
That’s what you did.
“I knew that having a rider as a reference on this track is worth tenths of a second, and I accepted it. In the end, I prefer to have a clear lead. My goal was the first row, and I'm glad I got it. I managed to push thanks to the changes to the set-up made in the FP4. They allowed me to be more competitive.”
What did you changed on your Ducati?
“We struggle with the wind and getting the bike to go. We don’t have much grip at the maximum lean angle. We only made a small change, but it gave a great result. We put more load on the tires, improving in the fast corners.”
What do you expect from tomorrow’s race?
“You have to be very smart on this track, in order to manage wear on the rear tire. It’ll be difficult in the last laps to be competitive and constant. Someone will attack at the beginning, and we must not lose positions.”
Did you get an idea of your most dangerous rivals?
“I think Marquez, Martin, and Quartararo are the most competitive. Aleix Espargarò, a little less. Even Bezzecchi is fast but, being a rookie, it’ll be more complicated for him to manage tire drop.”
What are your chances?
”I have a good pace. I think it’s enough to try to win or at least get on the podium. It’ll easily be a group race. We’ll need to understand when the right moment to push will be, managing the tires.”
Have you already chosen which tires you’ll be using?
“I honestly don’t know which ones I’m going to choose yet. In the FP4, I felt good with a new hard, but also in the FP3 with the medium, without forgetting that even the front can be a problem on this track. You have to analyze all the data well. The tires you’ll see in the warm up probably won’t be the ones that we’ll use in the race.”
