#AustralianGP
Francesco Bagnaia finishes the seventeenth GP with a fourth place in the Sprint Race and a third place in the main race. Our Suomy Rider is second in the rider standings, twenty points behind the leader.
It was an intense weekend for our rider, Francesco Bagnaia. Pecco showed great determination, even managing to hold second position both during the Sprint Race and the main race. On Sunday, he climbed to the front of the race but was unable to fend off his rivals and finished in third place. There are three races left in the championship, and Pecco Bagnaia is 20 points behind the championship leader.
SPRINT RACE
Pecco started from the second row of the grid. In the first lap, he moved up to third place, and at the beginning of the fourth lap, he overtook Bezzecchi and crossed the main straight in second position. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hold off his rivals and was only able to defend fourth place until the end of the race. Pecco complained about not having the perfect feeling with the bike since the practice sessions. The team decided to make adjustments in both qualifying and the race, but these changes did not prove satisfactory and seemed to have had a negative effect on the parts of the track where the Piedmontese rider was previously stronger.
RACE
Corner entry. This was the moment when our Francesco Bagnaia faced the most significant feeling issues during Sunday’s race. The changes made after the Sprint Race did not bring the improvement in feeling they had hoped for. Pecco said he hadn’t had that feeling since practice sessions. Fans hoped until the end to see him on the top step of the podium. Indeed, by the fourth lap, Pecco had climbed to second place, and by the twelfth lap, he even led the race, but he eventually had to give way to his rivals, who were also riding Ducati.
“We decided to make some set-up adjustments both in qualifying and in the race, as I didn’t have the right feeling, but then we ended up in the wrong direction and made things worse in the areas where things were good, while not addressing those in which we felt we had to improve. The pace was not bad to put up a fight, but it was surely worse than yesterday’s and this is why we have to analyse the data and understand how to move forward ahead of tomorrow. I tried to bridge the gap with Jorge (Martín) but the wind was bothering me quite a lot, especially in the fast corners.”
Francesco Bagnaia – Sprint Race 4th
“Obviously I’m not happy with the result, but we could have hardly done any better today. We managed to improve a little compared to yesterday and I did all I could to stay with Jorge (Martín) and Marc (Márquez) but ended up struggling on corner entry – and they were simply better than us today. The next two circuits on the calendar are usually better for me feeling-wise, and we’ll make sure to be ready.”
Francesco Bagnaia – Race 3th
World Standings P. 2
Next Round:
Thailand Grand Prix
Chang International Circuit
October 25-27th
Click the button below to find out all the images of the #SuomyCrew during the weekend in Australia.