The coronavirus and the confinement it imposes requires us to occupy our minds so as not to let ourselves be overcome by spleen. Sometimes, the best way to escape is to plan ahead, to already conceptualize what comes next to escape from everyday life. And while we're at it, we might as well embellish this future to be written. For Pecco Bagnaia, the idea is to see himself with a red suit on a Ducati of the same color. Even if 2020 has not yet started, 2021 is on mind for Jack Miller's teammate with his thoughts turned towards the same horizon...
Having arrived in MotoGP crowned with his title of Moto2 World Champion, Pecco Bagnaia did not celebrate his arrival in the premier category as he hoped. Not only did he have difficulty getting used to his Desmosedici, but, moreover, he took the full brunt of the explosion of talent in fabio quartararo, also a rookie, on a satellite Yamaha.
The Italian from the VR46 academy does not deny that the Frenchman was an aggravating factor in the apprehension of his modest 2019 results. An aspect which annoys him: “ Fabio had a season beyond all expectations, including those of Yamaha » comments Pecco. “ He did incredible results, like Zarco had already done. That said, negative feedback still comes, but it's the thing that matters the least because only you know what you're working on, your challenges, and how you're trying to solve them. There is no point wasting time on negative comments, especially if they come from those who are not even in the environment. If the comments come from Ciabatti, Tardozzi or someone from my team or my family, then you have to grow and learn, otherwise… »
He adds about his past season: “ obviously it's not enough, I was missing 3 or 4 tenths and I think that, if I had had them for the race, I would have been with Dovizioso, Petrucci and Miller. I just hope that when we start again I start from this base, in fact I'm sure, we're almost there, but I still can't say that I'm a perfect fit for Ducati. »
The fact remains that, to progress and understand his mount, he adopted a particular working base: the data of Lorenzo. " last year we did it mainly for the braking, for the way it evolved, because at the beginning it was braking in the Yamaha style, stopping less to get to the Ducati style, with the big braking. Now I look more at the data from Dovizioso, Petrucci and Miller. »
The experience now acquired, bagnaia now hopes for significant progress that would arouse the interest of Ducati management: “ I hope so, in my opinion the elements are all there. Last year was difficult, with too many falls which are not my style, if you remember that in the previous two years I fell between 4 and 6 times. This year in testing I started off being a little more careful to find the feel with the bike and now with the 2020 Ducati and the team around me I can have everything I need to get the results we seek. My goal is to get on the official Ducati in 2021, and for that, I have to deserve it. » In the meantime, he will do the first Virtual Grand Prix this Sunday on the Mugello route.
