“The first place is lost”

2024-09-07 16:41:12

An error at the start prevents Pecco Bagnaia from winning the San Marino Grand Prix sprint race. The Italian driver had to settle for second after losing the lead in the first corner of the short test. Now, heading into tomorrow’s test, he will look to get off to a good start and do the best possible base management to attack at the right time.

At the end of the sprint race, the Ducati rider spoke to the press and admitted that the mistake he made at the start earned him the victory at home in front of his fans.: “The first place is lost. I started first and finished second. I didn’t make a good start, I didn’t find the right point with the cover and I lost in that stage. Jorge ran with me and from that moment I tried everything to stay close to him, but the front tire did not allow me to continue like this, I realized that if I did someone would overtake me. When you race at Misano with a driver who has the same pace as you, it is difficult even if you are slightly faster behind him. I had to get up, or I might have fallen.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s race, all attention will be on tire choice, although he mentioned that they will have to pay attention to the weather conditions from the start: “I think the same thing will happen more or less tomorrow, we will probably change the rear tyre, which will answer our needs a little bit. It’s hard to imagine tomorrow’s conditions, it could be colder or even rainy, so The most important thing is to understand everything and try to be quick at once. Maybe with the center he will get more stability and have space to try to overtake if necessary.”

Despite losing the victory, Pecco Bagnaia has made sure that he is happy with the result obtained, but he admits that he suffered in the attempt to overtake Jorge Martin: “I believe a lot in ourselves, this second place after the weekend in Aragon is also good, but not what makes me happy, because I think I could have won. I expected to have this speed, maybe if I managed to be in front I would be even faster, but I couldn’t overtake Jorge.”

“It’s important to be ahead right away,” said the two-time world champion, who pointed out that it will be important to make a good start in the long race: “Misano is a very specific track, when you are behind someone who is going as fast as you are there are no points where you can get close and attack, that is the problem. If I had been in the first corner, we probably would have done the same thingon the contrary, he was faster than Jorge, but something else was overtaking him.”

Due to the excessive wear of the tires, team member Enea Bastianini had to throw in the towel and not seek the bike’s limit due to the degradation of the compounds: “In the end I had to give up because the front tire couldn’t take it anymore, I was in danger of falling again and again in three corners. I retired in the last two laps, the pressure and the temperature were increasing and it became dangerous.. After three laps I was already over the limit, with constant obstruction.”

Finally, he emphasized that he will have to go undercover for tomorrow’s race if he wants to compete without pain after the fall of Aragón, which affects him in his daily life: “When I’m rolling I just feel pain in my shoulder, but I can do more or less what I want, I can shoot. c“I think the painkillers do the dirty work and maybe tomorrow I’ll have to take something stronger.”, Zanjaba Pecco Bagnaia.