Bagnaia rues “horrible race” as braking problems persist in sprint race

One man who seems unable to catch a break currently on the MotoGP grid is Francesco Bagnaia, who has struggled all weekend so far during the Aragon Grand Prix.

Braking problems have been to blame, with the constant locking of his front wheel wrecking the confidence of the factory Ducati rider.

While he managed to qualify in P4, the sprint race at the Motorland circuit was much more in tune with what was seen throughout practice – a complete lack of confidence in the bike. After running wide in the race, ‘Pecco’ soldiered on to a lowly 12th-place finish. The double MotoGP champion didn’t hold back when describing his sprint experience.

“Horrible race,” said Bagnaia. “I knew it could be difficult today because in the FP2 this morning I was struggling, I wasn’t happy with my feeling [on the bike] – but in qualifying I just gave it a lot, risking a lot and I started in P4.

“In the race, I tried everything but I wasn’t able to force [pace out]. I was trying to brake hard but the front was locking a lot, I was understeering a lot. It was really tough.

“I went wide just trying to copy and brake in the same place as the rider in front of me; I started to lock and I just needed to go wide, and then I was stuck there and it was really tough.

“For tomorrow I think we need to try another different thing. We are trying everything but another one [we’ll try] and we are hoping it will help a bit. Already the medium [tyre] tomorrow will help a bit to have less understeering, but it will be tough.”

When asked about whether this was the toughest moment in his career, Bagnaia answered the question without hesitation.

“At the moment, yes,” the Italian said flatly. “I know what I could do but I cannot do it. It is more difficult than other challenges I have had.”