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Just 3 years ago at Aragon Bagnaia won his first MotoGP race, in a last-lap duel against Marc Marquez. Not much time has passed, but the Pecco who returns to MotorLand this year looks like a completely different rider, capable of winning 2 world titles and 24 more races after that success. He is now in the Top 10 all-time winningest riders in the premier class, tied with Schwantz."It's incredible, you grow up dreaming of doing what some riders did and when you succeed it's incredible. It's something fantastic to get to this level," says the rider from Piedmont.
You like Aragon, no need to ask.
"I'm happy to be here because I like this track, it has a nice mix of challenging braking and fast corners. I think I can have fun, plus on the last two occasions the Ducati was perfectly suited to the characteristics of this track. I think the potential is great, but I also know that Marquez is very fast here, Martin also and Bastianini has already won here. I think it will be a battle between the four of us and it will be good."
In 2021 you beat Marquez, in 2022 you were beaten by Bastianini.
"On this track it is difficult to get away and there are always fantastic tussles. The one with Marc was good and also the one with Enea, although he beat me that time."
If you found yourself in the same situation in 2021 would you behave the same way?
"Of course, I would have the same aggressiveness, my mentality has not changed, I just want to win. The difference is that now I know how to do it, if I had to go back to that race I would try to manage it better, to get to the end with more advantage over Marc. It would be great if I had the same battle against Marquez on Sunday. And with the same result."
That victory sort of unlocked you.
"2021 was a strange season, I was many times close to winning, but I did not succeed because of mistakes or problems. After the win here, I won four out of six races. That changed my mindset, made me realize I had the potential to win. I worked a lot in that aspect to get to the level I'm at now."
You and Ducati have grown together. Now it feels like a different bike, fast even in the middle of the corners.
"The Desmosedici changed a little bit when we started to understand that riders could ride it with different styles, it happened in 2020. In Pramac, in 2019, my biggest problem was not being able to stop the bike because of engine braking. When we started the next year to modify it, I started to use an adjustment that was the opposite of Dovizioso's and the bike changed, it started to have more speed in cornering. The best thing is that now it adapts to everyone, because we don't have only one one strategy for electronics but each one his own."
So you have nothing to ask for 2025?
"It is impossible to have the perfect bike. What we lack now, compared to the past, is some traction in some situations. That's what I asked the engineers for next year."
Speaking of 2025, what do you think about the start of the season in Thailand and the return of Brno?
"It is strange, but for the first time we are going to go to Buriram not in the rainy season. As for Brno, it's one of the best tracks we used to race at and I'm glad to be going back there."
Last week in Japan, cars and motorcycles raced together on the same weekend. Could this work for MotoGP as well?
"We talked in the past about a weekend together with Formula 1. I don't know if it's possible to organize it, it would be great, but it depends on where you do it. In Japan there is a lot of passion, even at the Suzuka 8 Hours it's full of people. From a technical point of view, usually after the cars have raced the asphalt becomes more slippery, but I've never tried it."
