Pecco Bagnaia experienced a halt in his comeback against Fabio Quartararo who, as a result, was offered, now 52 points ahead in the championship, a first match point during the next match in Misano. The Ducati official had to continue to regain as many points as possible from the Yamaha factory rider, but he dropped a handful on the demanding Austin track, which could cost him dearly on the land of his second Grand victory. Price. He could in fact be deeply disappointed by leaving Texas. But actually, not at all.
There will not have been a third consecutive victory for Pecco Bagnaia at the end of the Grand Prix of the Americas. Arriving 48 points behind the championship leader from whom he took points from Aragon, he heads towards the last three rounds with a liability of 52 units. Of the Misano 2 In two weeks, he will be up against the wall. But the Italian regrets nothing, because he could not hope for better than this third step on the podium in the United States: “ I'm very happy, we made the most of it. Fabio and Marc were faster than us, so doing more was very difficult. We can't be disappointed, we did our best “, said Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia. “ Pole position on Saturday on a track where we struggled from the start was a good result. And the podium is another story ».
The 24-year-old Italian started from pole position for the third time in a row, but this time he was unable to stay in the lead from the start of hostilities. And for good reason: he vegetated for a while in sixth row: “ I tried everything, but initially I had problems with the grip of the rear wheel " Pecco said. “ My rear tire was not ready. I spoke to Fabio and Marc about it, they had my problem in Misano. In Misano I had maximum grip from the start, everything was perfect and not for them. This time they were fine and I had less grip. It's okay, it can happen ».
Bagnaia: “nous savons que nous avons perdu des points sur d’autres pistes et dans d’autres situations"
« But then I could see that the drivers in front of me were having a little trouble, that the podium was possible » adds the teammate Jack Miller. " I tried everything, the last part of the race wasn't easy, but in the end we got another podium », underlined the second in the provisional general classification of the World Championship. “ Fabio increased his lead again, but it's okay. We know we lost points on other tracks and in other situations. Now we have done a very good job since the summer holidays. We have learned a lot and we continue on this path. It's the perfect job ».
His teammate Jack Miller gave way to bagnaia at one point in the race, but the Italian assures that there was nothing agreed: “ I think Jack did it willingly.. I made up half a second on the lap and he didn't force me to do an aggressive maneuver, he let me pass. I have to thank him, also for FP4. I think we work well as a team and always help each other. We do the perfect job ».
In view of the arrival, George Martin was another colleague of the brand between Pecco and the podium. However, rookie Pramac clearly had problems and was penalized with a long lap for an excursion off the track: “ I saw that he had more problems than me, and I did not force the overtaking maneuver because I saw that he had cut turn 5. So he had to let me pass “, said the Ducati factory rider. “ This track is not easy for a rookie, and even more so with these bumps, he did a good job ».
He ends with the events to follow with this promise for Misano 2 : " I'm here to try to reduce the disadvantage, even though I know it's almost impossible. From this point of view I think I'm calmer than Fabio, he has to think about the championship, I just need to be more competitive. I certainly won't take risks like Aegerter did in MotoE with Torres, also because I am not 7 points behind him, but more than 50 ».
MotoGP Austin J3: ranking
Credit classification motogp.com
