Pecco Bagnaia started from the first row of the Dutch Grand Prix starting grid shared with the two Yamaha officials, and he tried his luck from the start. In view of the free practices and qualifying, the only card he could play was to take the lead and break the rhythm of the M1s, and especially that of Fabio Quartararo. A perfectly laid out plan but impossible to control as the pressure from the Frenchman was so strong. The Italian made a mistake and suffered a sanction. This accomplished, another race began for the Ducati factory rider…
Pecco Bagnaia tried to stand up to fabio quartararo, but unlike a Johann zarco who first managed his forces, the official Ducati went beyond his own. The Italian is certainly not to blame for his lack of commitment after this match Assen. On the contrary: he overdid it, exceeding the track limits more than three times. Which logically earned him the “long lap” penalty which cost him the chance of a podium.
The model student VR46 took it with sportsmanship: “ if you get a penalty, it's okay in the vast majority of cases. There are rules and you have to respect them. I didn't want to let Fabio escape today and I overdid it » he said. For five rounds, Francesco “Pecco” bagnaia had thus fiercely resisted, but then had to let go fabio quartararo. The Italian then did everything to keep Takaaki Nakagami and the platoon behind him: “ the problem was then to not make the same mistake again after the penalty » specifies the teammate Miller who gave up. “ I had Marc Marquez ten laps behind me, who pushed like crazy to pass. It was not easy », admitted Pecco, who crossed the finish line in sixth place ahead of the Repsol Honda rider.
He returns to the sanction: “ two of the five times I hit the green was because the air movement pushed me a little onto the green. It's still my fault. Because when I smell and see this, I should have cut the gas. But that would have meant perhaps losing a place or not being able to counter an overtaking maneuver. I tried. It was my mistake and I apologized to the team », added the driver of the red GP21.
Bagnaia: “The Yamahas were too fast for us, but I gave it my all”
« I was certainly very close to the limit, I had to grit my teeth, especially in the last sector. It was quite clear that the Yamaha and the Honda had an advantage at turn 12. We managed to be competitive on the rest of the course, but there we really lost too much », Analyzed the pilot of 24 years. “ I think without the penalty the maximum would have been third or fourth place. We knew my race today was more about defending myself. The Yamahas were too fast for us today. But I gave everything ».
“Pecco” who goes on vacation with a disadvantage of 47 points on Quarterly and is in third position in the provisional general classification. In front, he has his distinguished colleague zarco at 11 lengths while it is now followed by Mir and its Suzuki, which benefited from the abandonment of Miller to prevent the hunt for the French leader from being solely the prerogative of the clan Ducati.
bagnaia ends by paying tribute to the winner of Assen, who at the same time signed his fourth success this season: “ I don't think there is one bike better than another, they are all good for every track. However, there is who is strongest on certain tracks, who is strongest on others. For the moment, the most consistent bike seems to be the Yamaha with 5 victories out of 9 races but I think the difference is Quartararo who rides at a high level and always manages to have great races ».
MotoGP Assen J3: classification
Credit classification motogp.com
