Until the summer break, Francesco Bagnaia's professional life was not a long, quiet river.
Ranked last among the rookies and having suffered barely fewer falls than his teammate Jack Miller record holder in the field, “Pecco” alternated beautiful things (especially in the USA) with much duller ones…
But since the start of the school year in Brno, the Piedmontese of the Pramac team seems to be taking a new direction, also parallel to that of Miguel Oliveira, which today gives him the best race of his young career in the premier category. Technically, the team provided him with new front axle settings in Brno which suit him much better…
However, not appearing in the top 10 at the end of the first 3 free practice sessions, the Transalpine driver was nevertheless able to get back into Q1 before obtaining a very good 5th place on the grid, one line ahead of his more experienced teammate.
Author of a more than average start, the Pramac driver was then able to establish a racing pace around 1'25 which allowed him to resist the returns of Miguel Oliveira et Danilo Petrucci at the end of the race, before crossing the finish line in 7th position.
Francis Bagnaia : “It was a good weekend. In Brno we decided to start from scratch and take a step forward in terms of settings. This change gave me confidence, allowing me to be fast and fight with the fastest. We did a great job and it helped us a lot with the front end of the bike. It's an excellent result, the best of the season. We have reduced the gap with the leaders. The feeling is very positive. We must continue in this direction to be consistent until the end of the season. The goal was to be in the top 10. It wasn't easy, because I struggled a lot during the first laps in terms of grip compared to the previous days. It was tricky to stay in that position, but in the end it turned out to be a consistent performance, even though I didn't have any grip at the end. So we have to continue like this.”
Austrian Grand Prix MotoGP standings:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
