2023-10-19 11:25:06
Pecco Bagnaia lands in Australia maintaining the leadership of MotoGPthe same one that he lost last Saturday after the Indonesian Sprint Race and that he recovered again 24 hours later after winning the main race of the Indonesian Grand Prix, benefiting from the zero scored by his great rival for the title, Jorge Martín from Madrid. .
The current MotoGP world champion said today in Phillip Island that his last victory in Mandalika was “fantastic” after a “difficult period” of four grand prix without crowning the highest step of the podium. “To win again with this performance and starting from 13th position was fantastic”, added the Ducati Lenovo Team rider.
Beyond his victory – the sixth he has achieved on a Sunday this year -, Pecco highlighted the improvement in the sensations with his GP23, a machine with which he did not feel comfortable in the last races, favoring Jorge Martín’s comeback in the general classification. : “I am very happy with the sensations I had with the bike, they were incredible. I was very happy with the braking and grip I felt compared to Saturday. “It was much better and it’s a big step for the rest of the season.”
Pecco acknowledges that on Sunday “I didn’t expect to be a leader again” after checking Martín’s excellent pace in Indonesia: “I did a great job because in three laps I was already third. I saw that Jorge was always in the same position, but the three laps before his fall, He started to push very, very hard and then he fell to the ground.so when I saw him fall, I just thought about staying calm, I knew I was managing the rear tire perfectly and when I saw that there were only 10 laps left I tried to be closer to Maverick and then overtake him to win.”
Now comes Phillip Island, a track that “it is always particular” according to the Italian, highlighting the weather changes that will occur between Friday and Sunday: “It seems that this weekend we will have a normal Friday with less wind, but Saturday will start to be more normal with 19° C and a little wind, and Sunday will be very strange because it seems that we will have 12° C and winds of 50 km per hour and rain, so it can be very difficult. I love running here. It is one of my favorite circuits. The first corner is incredible, also Turn 3 and 10, also the last corner, I love everything so let’s see.”
Every Ducati rider who competes in Australia has in mind a legend of the championship such as Casey Stoner. The one from Southport won all the races held at Phillip Island between 2007 and 2012, and it was also here where he achieved his last victory in MotoGP shortly before his retirement as a professional rider.
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Pecco is convinced that Stoner”had amazing instincts here” why “always made a difference”and remember “a wet practice where he entered, did three laps and gained two seconds on the second. 45 minutes passed and some drivers were closing in on him, so Casey went out on the track again and gained two more seconds on them. Stoner proved to be the only one capable of going fast with the Ducati, that’s why when he switched to Honda everything seemed easier to him. He had incredible talent and instinct, and it was always easy for him to escape on this circuit“concludes the Ducati Lenovo Team rider.
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