Ducati, Bagnaia looks like another: "I haven’t been like this"

Pecco Bagnaia’s growth and second place in the sprint race at Le Mans softened in part Ducati’s terrible Saturday, shaken by Marc Marquez’s crash and injury. The Piedmontese rider, who also took pole, showed clear signs of growth: “In general it was going to be tough because Jorge had so much today and we were similar on pace, but I was never able to really go for him and it cost me a bit on consistency with the tires, but in any case we took a step forward from the last race, so we have to be happy about that and we are working well, so for the moment we are ready for tomorrow.”

“To see the Aprilia, it seems to me that we lack a little bit of acceleration in certain areas, especially on restarts, however, it’s more a matter of how we wheelie. So definitely for tomorrow we try to do something and actually by now we are very close. On the race pace, as we tried today with so many laps, we were among the fastest,” he told Sky.

For a long time Bagnaia has not felt so confident: “Right now I’m really okay. Bez today I saw him a little bit in trouble in certain areas, I don’t know if he was having some little problem, but it seemed to me that he was lacking a little bit of distance. While on the other hand Jorge, from a distance, seemed to me to be really okay. The only thing I noticed close to Bez was the speed they can bring out of the corners, and that’s something we have to improve there.”

“I haven’t felt this good since Japan 2025. I’m happy because what we try works, the bike clearly tells me if the changes are working or not. For me it is fundamental to have this feedback from the bike, I am satisfied. Since the Jerez test we have understood something and I hope that it is not only here that we can make these results, but that we will have this speed also in the next races.”