GREATER NOIDA, SUNDAY —Francesco Bagnaia failed to score points in the main race for the fourth time this season as he crashed out in the MotoGP India series at the Buddh International Circuit, Sunday (24/9/2023). The Ducati factory team rider made a mistake at turn five on the 14th of 21 laps, shortly after taking second place from Jorge Martin. Bagnaia had difficulty with the bike’s braking settings and therefore was unable to ride the Desmosedici GP to its fullest. He has felt this obstacle since Misano.
Bagnaia hasn’t found a motorcycle suit that makes him comfortable since last Friday’s test session. He almost failed to qualify directly for the second qualifying because he could not ride the bike the way he wanted. This condition is because the ideal brake setting cannot be found. In fact, late braking is its strength in achieving a good lap time.
These conditions made him uncomfortable with the medium front tire for the race. Because, with these tires, braking becomes more difficult. Moreover, during the qualifying session, he admitted that his bike was still on stoppie or the rear tire lifts during hard braking in turns one and four. He also opted to use a hard compound front tire during the race, but then made a mistake on lap 14 as he was too ambitious entering the fifth turn.
“We took a risk by using a hard compound (front) tire. I feel better with this tire because with the medium tire used by the other Ducati riders, I really struggled. “Obviously, with this tire (medium), my position would be even further behind this one,” Bagnaia told TNT.
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Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia rides his motorcycle in the MotoGP India series race at Buddh Circuit, Greater Noida, India, Sunday (24/9/2023).
“We used the tires to try to compete with the drivers in front, but today Bez (Marco Bezzecchi) was too fast. However, we were able to compete with Jorge (Martin) and I then overtook Jorge. “After passing him, I lost the front tire, at the same time (the rear tire) slipped and then I regained (traction), which pushed the front tire again and I lost the control,” explained the pilot familiarly known as Pecco.
Bagnaia briefly led the race after the start, but then lost the lead to Bezzecchi on the final corner of the first lap. The Mooney VR46 team driver then raced and won the first race in India. Pecco then fought with Prima Pramac Racing driver Jorge Martin. Pecco was in third position, but then passed Martin on the banked corner 8-9 on lap 13. A lap later, Pecco crashed at turn five.
“I made a mistake, I apologized to my team, because of course I didn’t need to make a mistake like this. However, I also think I shouldn’t be in this situation .It was a tough weekend for us. We never found a solution to the braking issues because something strange happened, where I didn’t feel very good at our strongest point, and this also happened in Misano,” Pecco explained.
“We will try to overcome this in Japan. We tried to do this last night, but today it was not possible to find a solution. “We will try to find a solution in Japan, because we have to get back to the position we should be in, the position I want, the position the team wants, and get back up,” stressed the Italian driver.
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We still have seven races left, 14 races. So we will never give up.
Mooney VR46 rider Marco Bezzecchi leads the Indian MotoGP series race at Buddh Circuit, Greater Noida, India, Sunday (24/9/2023).
“I’m sure Jorge and Bez will be competitive in Japan. However, it’s a track that we struggled with a bit last year, but I’m sure this year it will be different. My ambition now is just to get back to the front and fight to win, because it’s been two weekends since we were first (Misano and India). “I just want to get back up,” continued the 2022 MotoGP champion.
Pecco now finds himself in a vulnerable situation as he could continue to lose points if his motorcycle braking problem is not resolved. This condition could harm the chances of retaining the title as currently Martin is closing in, only 13 points behind in second place in the standings. There are still seven series remaining in the championship, with 14 races including the sprint, which yields a maximum of 231 points.
“Obviously important points, but right now the most important thing is to understand what happened, to understand how to get back to our potential and recover. We still have seven races left, 14 races. So we won’t give up never. “We will fight to reach first place and our ambition is to always win,” concluded Pecco. (ENG)
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