The leader of the World Championship Pecco Bagnaia falls twice on Saturday in Sepang. It will be a war of nerves for the top Ducati rider.
A double-faced qualifying Saturday for Pecco Bagnaia in Malaysia. He remedies two crashes, the first in FP3 which prevents him from directly accessing Q2. The second in the final time attack of Q2, relegating him to 9th place, but still ahead of his direct rivals for the MotoGP title: Aleix Espargarò will start from the tenth place, Fabio Quartararo from the twelfth.
Well in the last free practice session, where he manages to take a step with his Ducati GP22 with used tires, and in Q1, when he sets the best time that allows him to access the second qualifying heat. But the donut fails him with the hole and accuses a delay of one second from Jorge Martin’s record pole position. Some episodes make you nervous Pecco Bagnaia during FP3, the war of nerves has just begun.
Bagnaia-Quartararo challenge of nerves
Saturday morning, his concentration is severely tested when Franco Morbidelli he slows down his time attack and on the next attempt he finds Fabio Quartararo in the trajectory and then falls at turn 7. “In the morning I was annoyed by Quartararo and Morbidelli and I got too nervous“, Admits the championship leader. “Then I realized that certain things can happen. I am a human being and I start to feel the pressure“.
The front row was close at hand, but he pushed too hard in turn 4 and made up for the second crash at the climax of qualifying. The Sepang layout offers many overtaking possibilities and the goal will be not so much to win the race, but to earn other valuable points in the standings on Fabio Quartararo, so as to play everything in the last round of Valencia in two weeks. The start will be fundamental, in T1 Ducati can take advantage of the double straight and the braking at the first corner to gain positions. “It will be important not to always ride in the slipstream to manage the front tire. Because when the pressure skyrockets, it becomes dangerous“.
In the race simulation he showed an excellent race pace with used tires. However, it will be difficult to grab the two brand mates Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini which will start from the first row. “If they have the opportunity they will try to win“, Observed Pecco Bagnaia. “Maybe tomorrow will be the day for some sort of team order. Let’s wait and see. We must certainly be smart“.
