Ducati, Pecco Bagnaia: “I just can’t get anything going anymore”

Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia commented dejectedly on his nightmare weekend at Misano. At one of his favorite tracks, the Piedmontese rider endured three days to forget, culminating in a crash during the early laps of the San Marino Grand Prix, when he was battling for tenth place.

“I got off to a better start than in the Sprint race and was in the top 10. When Franco Morbidelli pulled off for the long lap, I tried to follow Fabio Di Giannantonio, who had a good pace,” he said after the race. “As soon as I tried to pick up speed going into Turn 2, I lost the front end. It’s disappointing because a top-ten finish would have been an excellent result given how things had unfolded.”

The slump seems to have no end in sight: “The team is doing everything it can to help me, but unfortunately I’m not feeling comfortable, and I don’t understand why certain things aren’t working for me anymore—especially when braking, entering corners, and through the turns. We have to accept the reality of the situation: right now, we’re at a ninth- or tenth-place level, and we have to start over from here. If I keep crashing, it’s because I’m pushing until the very end, and I’ll keep doing that in Austria, too.”

On the hope of seeing his best form again at Motegi: “Do as I did last year? It depends. On what, though, I won’t say. But it depends. Austria is a beautiful track; up until two years ago, I had so many great weekends there—I hope to do well there too.”