Bagnaia had to work his way through the field from 16th on the grid, but at the pit stop at the end of the fifth lap when it started to rain, he was able to jump forward to the fifth – although he was hit by a double long lap. Penalty for driving too fast in the pit lane, together with Ducati team-mate Jack Miller.
The Italian finished fourth, losing just one point behind Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo at the top of the championship.
However, he revealed that the rain was a godsend for him as the bike he started on was not working properly.
“I was lucky enough to change bikes because the first one didn’t work very well,” he said.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“So a bit of luck in this crazy race. I am happy because I finished fourth with these two long laps.
“I just entered [into pitlane] 3km / h more than normal and it is right that they give me this penalty.
“But my pace was really good. On Friday I told my team that I definitely prefer medium tires and today this choice worked well because my pace was very good in the end and I made up many seconds on the leaders.
“We drove a good race, last year I had more problems in the wet.
“Well, I’m happy about it. We just have to check the data on what happened to the bike that I used in the dry all weekend because I had big problems with this bike after the race.
“So we have to check the data for the next race.
“But we can look forward to today. I’m second in the championship and only one point behind Fabio. “
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Petrucci spurred on with the best result of the season
Last Sunday’s Le Mans winner Danilo Petrucci enjoyed his best race on the Tech3 KTM last Sunday after recovering from 17th to fifth on the grid.
Petrucci “reset” after a disappointing Friday after going the wrong way with setup. A slightly wetter race could have given him another podium at Le Mans.
“We certainly did a good reset on Friday because the direction we were taking didn’t work,” he said.
“There was a meeting where I could have a say in what could be improved and in fact something changed immediately.