Pecco Bagnaia eighth in FP2 of the Phillip Island GP. The wind slows the race of the Ducati rider, Fabio Quartararo is in front for now.
Two Ducatis in the lead on the first day of free practice MotoGP at Phillip Island, are those of Johann Zarco and Marco Bezzecchi. Eighth time for Pecco Bagnaia, with very close times and which see the first ten harvests in just four tenths of a second. The strong wind causes a few too many problems for the 25-year-old Turin rider’s Desmosedici GP22 in the race for the world title, but work is being done in the Ducati pits to polish the details.
The challenge with Fabio Quartararo gets to the heart on the eve of a qualifying session where starting from the front will be essential for the rise to the podium. “I have to risk it, just like him. We all have to take risks because it is very important to be on the front row. These two races (Australia and Malaysia, ed) they are not the best for our bike, but we have already shown that we can be fast on tracks where we struggled last year“. And then there is the mental factor that will influence the outcome of the weekend: “Here I will adopt the same strategy as in the last few races. Push and bring out the best, without thinking about the championship“.
Pecco Bagnaia faster than the wind
However, it is difficult not to deal with mathematics as well. With three races to go, there are two points behind in the standings, even a single episode can be enough to decree the name of the new MotoGP world champion. Every detail will be essential to make the spoils, at Phillip Island the choice of tires will be decisive for the success of the 27 laps of the race. “Consistency counts on this track“, He noted Pecco Bagnaia.
On the first day of free practice, the Savoy driver focused his attention on the medium rear tire, but on Saturday the hard option will also be evaluated, given the interesting times set by Alex Rins with the harder compound. But eyes also focused on the weather and not only on the rain, which suddenly fell between FP1 and FP2, but reserving dry conditions for the afternoon.
To put Pecco Bagnaia in difficulty is the wind that limits the maximum speed on the main straight of 900 meters a little, but not only. Already in the last stages of the second practice session he took a step forward: “In sectors 1 and 3 I am far behind, in sectors 2 and 4 I am very fast. We already know where we need to improve“. It is forbidden to make a mistake in order to continue chasing the great world dream, but in any case the one who can take the most risks will win.
