English
Italiano
Good, but not great. For once, finished on Friday there is not even a Ducati in the top 3, taken by Aprilia and KTM. The game in Barcelona and gets tough and, as often happens, Bagnaia exalts himself. The best Desmosedici is that of the world champion, in 4th position, a result that satisfies Pecco on a circuit that has some (big) problems.
"Barcelona wins the prize of track with less grip on the calendar and does so by a wide margin, with 4 races ahead - he jokes but not too much - For everyone it's the same, but there are bikes and bikes: KTM and Aprilia, in these conditions, in the first day always manage to have a hair's breadth of advantage, but we usually to fill and we know where to go to work. Already today we took a step forward and tomorrow we have another one scheduled. I'm satisfied, I wasn't able to do a super lap in the time attack, but it went pretty well, I'm at a pretty high level."
The Demosedici 2023s are all in Q1, is the new bike starting to make a difference?
"The GP24 helps a little more than the GP23 in braking, you can stop hard and enter the corners well. Compared to last year's bike it has less grip, the 2023 allowed you to have more traction, however, it's nothing we can't solve tomorrow. In the end they are equivalent, I think Marquez couldn't have a good lap today, he didn't have the right chance to be in the 10, because his pace is very good."
Is the chattering on the GP24 also just a memory?
"In Jerez and Le Mans there was a lot of grip, here there wasn't and we could have chattering, but at the moment it didn't show up. We have done something to solve the problem, but the circuit also has something to do with it."
What's this one like?
"The grip is not there, the asphalt is a mess. The track was warm today, but you can't push, you need at least 6 laps to get the medium tire up to temperature. The soft, on the other hand, is ready right away but we don't know if you can finish the race. It is difficult to work well, but it is the same for everyone. In entry starts in front, in acceleration behind, you have to control so much the balance of the bike with the weight: the lack of grip is all round. In turns 3 and 4 it feels like you're at the Ranch, on dirt."
Are we on the limit?
"The safety level here is very low, you can fall without doing anything, like Brad who went down with the bike straight or me last year. There were alot of crashes today, I expect that for next year they will resurface the circuit."
How do the Michelin tires perform in these conditions?
"The tire with the new construction is clearly faster, we go half a second faster on every track and it's because of the tire, which has more grip. At a circuit like this I can't really tell how we will be in the race because management will be important here, but these tires will allow us to push a little harder. In truth I expected a little more from the average because it is more complicated to be consistent than last year."
Today there is an Aprilia in front of everyone, is it the bike to beat again this year?
"Last year I was stronger than them in certain places, but this time in others because our bike is different, it has less grip. We made a good step forward in braking and corner entry, but we have to work on the consistency of the tire used because to go strong we have to exploit it a little more."
Automatic Translation by DeepL
