After a tricky start to the season, Pecco Bagnaia finally seems to have found the key to unlocking the potential of his GP22, like his teammate Jack Miller. Qualified in third position on the grid in Austin, the Italian driver answered questions from journalists during the post-qualifying press conference.
We transcribe his entire remarks here.
Pecco, after a difficult start to the season you have finally made your return to the forefront. We imagine that this will give you a good dose of confidence…
« As soon as we had this new bike in our hands, it was obvious to us that it had great potential. But like any time you try something new, it always takes a lot of work to get it right. So I worked a lot during the first part of the season. I think this is the first weekend where we only worked on my feelings on the bike. We only progressed between FP1 and FP4, and during this last session I really improved during my second stint, and thanks to that I was confident of being able to achieve a good time in qualifying. The race promises to be difficult here, as it is always very demanding, but with the disappearance of most of the bumps we can hope for a very consistent pace, especially on worn tires. So we will see what happens tomorrow, there will undoubtedly be a big battle with the other Ducati riders, we will see what will happen. »
The Ducatis monopolize the front positions, and occupy the first five places on the grid. Do you see a particular reason why the Ducatis are so dominant here?
« Last year what really penalized us here were the bumps. But this year with the resurfacing of the track they are less annoying, and this therefore gives us an advantage again. It is true that our bike is also very strong when braking as well as when accelerating, not to mention that with the new fairing the wind is not even really a problem for us anymore. We now have more of the ability to tighten the trajectories, and that is something that undoubtedly helps us. Furthermore, the fact that we have eight motorcycles on the grid is also an advantage for being able to cross-reference the data. »
All manufacturers seemed to have more problems on the front of their machines than Ducati. Do you have an explanation for this? It also seems that the GP22 is finally a competitive machine…
« I don't know what's going on with the other manufacturers, but what's certain is that during qualifying you always have to be at the limit. Perhaps the wind plays a role in this for them. As far as I am concerned, this GP is going much better than the previous ones. »
Do you think one of the Ducatis has a racing advantage? Some drivers believe that Enea Bastianini has a little something extra...
« It's true that Enea has shown good pace since the start of the weekend. But this is also the case for Fabio Quartararo and Marc Márquez. So there are a lot of drivers who could be in the mix. At the moment I have a good pace, but it's very difficult to predict something for the race because the wear on the rear tire is high. You will therefore have to be smart at the start of the race to understand the limits of this rubber, in order to be as consistent as possible until the end of the race. »
Can having five Ducatis at the front, very similar machines, make the battle between you more difficult?
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In the end, when you have more or less the same machines it is obviously easier to understand what each one does.
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