#AragonGP
A difficult weekend for our Francesco Bagnaia: ninth place in the sprint race and a crash in the Sunday race. Looking ahead to next weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
It was a difficult weekend for Pecco Bagnaia, our Suomy Rider, at the MotorLand track in Aragon. The free practices immediately revealed an issue with the front tire, which persisted throughout the weekend, affecting him in the sprint race, where he finished only in ninth place. Sunday’s race seemed to have taken a positive turn for our rider and his Suomy S1-XR GP, but unfortunately, a collision with Alex Marquez in the final stages of the race caused him to crash, forcing him to retire.
SPRINT RACE
Bagnaia’s race was tough from start to finish. The reigning world champion was forced to take a different line at the start to avoid the dirty part of the track due to the rain that fell during the night. This choice penalized him, causing him to lose several positions. Pecco did well to recover to fourth place, but the lack of feeling with the front tire, which had already emerged during practice, prevented him from attacking. It was a defensive race that saw him cross the finish line in ninth place.
RACE
Our Suomy rider once again struggled at the start, due to evident spinning on the rear tire. Pecco still did well considering another problem that had been affecting him since the free practice sessions: a lack of feeling with the front tire. Despite everything, during the race, he managed to climb up to fourth place. However, with six laps to go, a contact with Alex Marquez triggered a spectacular crash for both riders. Pecco saved himself, thanks in part to the performance of his S1-XR GP.
At the end of the twelfth Grand Prix of the season, Bagnaia finds himself in second place in the rider standings with 276 points, 23 points behind Martín.
“The issue we encountered yesterday unfortunately returned this afternoon and there was very little we could do as a team. These things happen, unfortunately, and it had been a while since it last happened to us. The start was a difficult one but after last night’s rain, the track conditions in that spot were not ideal; I managed to not lose too much ground but as soon as I got to turn five, I immediately understood that something wasn’t right, and then things kept getting worse. It was a tough race because I was struggling on both corner entry and mid-corner and I was lapping really slow. I believe that, realistically, I could have battled with Martín, as Marc (Márquez) seems to be able to make the difference on all of us in three areas of the track. We’ll try to understand what to do for tomorrow and let’s hope things will go differently.”
Francesco Bagnaia – Sprint Race 9th
“I took advantage of Alex going wide to get ahead of him and also dove into the next corner with a slightly wider line knowing there was another rider; therefore, it’s a shame that it ended up this way as it had already been a difficult weekend. After another complicated start – due to the tricky conditions of that spot on the grid – I was putting together a good comeback, and I was a lot quicker. Right now, I’m quite in pain, especially in my left shoulder, but it looks like there’s nothing broken. We’ll do our best to be as fit as possible at Misano.”
Francesco Bagnaia – Race NC
World Standings P. 2
Next Round:
GP Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini
Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
September 6-8th
Click the button below to find out all the images of the #SuomyCrew during the weekend in Aragon.