#GermanGP
Pecco strings together one victory after another and finally climbs to the top of the championship. Four consecutive wins, the latest being this weekend on the German track of Sachsenring. A 3671-meter-long circuit, with a rather linear layout and high average speeds. Our Suomy Rider, Francesco Bagnaia, has shown an unbeatable level of physical and mental form against his rivals. Pecco managed to secure third place in Saturday’s Sprint Race but dominated the Sunday race, standing on the top step of the podium, raising our Suomy S1 XR GP to the sky, which is now available in all stores.
SPRINT RACE
Francesco Bagnaia, starting from the fourth grid slot, made a perfect start and managed to take the lead of the race already at the first corner. Our world champion maintained the lead until the fourth lap when he was overtaken by Martín and then by Oliveira, who took advantage of the situation. Pecco finished the 15-lap Sprint Race at Sachsenring in third place.
RACE
Francesco Bagnaia is the most successful Ducati rider in MotoGP history and regains the top spot in the riders’ standings with our S1 XR GP, the new FIM-approved racing helmet. It was a spectacular race, full of overtakes and emotions. During the Sprint Race, Pecco managed to take the lead right from the first corner, while during the Sunday race he passed the first corner in third position. However, it only took him two laps to take the lead, first overtaking Oliveira and then Martín. In the course of the sixth lap, however, Pecco was overtaken again by Martín and shortly after by Morbidelli. Only halfway through the race did our champion manage to reclaim second place. From there, a beautiful battle ensued between Bagnaia and Martín, with seven-tenths separating them. The twist came at the first braking of the penultimate lap when Martín slipped. Pecco thus secured his sixth win of the season in the Sunday race, on the day of his 200th Grand Prix career start. Bagnaia is now at the top of the riders’ standings with a 10-point lead over Martín.
The next appointment is in just under a month (from August 2 to 4) for the Monster Energy British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
“We had a great start, then when I saw that Oliveira was about to make a move on Martín, I knew they would have both gone wide, so I dove in. I was doing a good job, but maybe I chose to save the rear tyre a bit too much in order to be in the best condition at the end of the race; I believe Jorge understood that and he took the opportunity to overtake me, also because I think it that one or two laps later it would have been a lot harder for him to do so. The fact that I didn’t exploit the tyre more was my mistake, as the drop in terms of grip happened to everyone. At some point in the race, overtaking is a lot more difficult due to the front tyre pressure. I tried to regain my position as soon as possible, but the front tyre had already become difficult to manage.”
Francesco Bagnaia – Sprint Race 3th
“We were both on thin ice in the last laps, as the front kept tucking and the rear sliding, we had no traction left and we were still lapping in the 21.0/21.1s, so it was really tough. The lap before Jorge’s (Martín) crash I also lost the front, but I managed to save the day by running a bit wider. It was clear that the first to give up would have lost and truthfully, I believe it could have happened to any of us. We didn’t have the easiest start to the season, but we did an incredible job and even here, where we weren’t the strongest, we still managed to put ourselves in the condition to fight for the win. Today’s race craft was very important, as it had been in Barcelona: I saw that both Jorge and Franco (Morbidelli) were pushing a bit too much, but still it was a tough race and to come out victorious from it is simply fantastic.”
Francesco Bagnaia – Race 1th
World Standings P. 1
Next Round:
Monster Energy British Grand Prix
Silverstone
August 2 – 4 th
Click the button below to find out all the images of the #SuomyCrew during the weekend in Germany.