“I am certainly happy but we are always missing something for the win, even today”. Pecco Bagnaia was unable to hide the disappointment for missing out on the win today. Binder is not up there in the classification, he made up a lot of points on Quartararo, and he scored a podium again after some time, but fate seems to be playing cruel games with the Ducati Team’s Italian rider.
“In the dry I was managing the race perfectly, I had kept a margin that would have allowed me to make a difference in the last 5 laps – he declared – But then it started to rain. At any rate I’m happy, I haven’t been on the podium since Jerez and in these two weekends we have worked better than ever ”.
Were you ready to win?
“It wasn’t an easy race from the start, a few drops of rain fell and it wasn’t easy to find the pace, but as the laps went by it got better and better. Then the rain started falling harder and at that moment I decided to let Marquez pass, because I wanted to see what he would do. He is very good in these conditions and when he decided to stop I followed him, even though I could see that a lot of riders stayed on the track with slicks. “
Marquez then crashed…
“With the rain tires the track was very slippery and in braking, at the beginning, for some reason it was more difficult than with slicks. Binder was crazy, before we thought that the only rider capable of making certain choices was Miller, now there’s Brad too! (laughs). Hey as incredible”.
Do you regret not making the same choice?
“I have no regrets, in truth I didn’t think anyone would decide to stay on track with slicks. When I came back into the pits I thought I had made the right choice, but there is little point in thinking about it now. I think even if I hadn’t come back in I wouldn’t have been able to stay ahead of Binder anyway ”.
Tell us about the last lap…
“When I started I was angry, because I only saw a handful of riders in front of me, I didn’t think there were so many. When I started to pass them, all between turns 6 and 7, I started counting them, but I must have lost a couple of them because I thought I was 4th and not on the podium (laughs) ”.
What does this 2nd place give you?
“A lot more confidence. I know it won’t be easy at Silverstone against the Yamahas and the Suzukis, they can make a difference there, but this year we have achieved good results even on tracks where we usually struggled. This result gives me more motivation to win”.
You are now second in the championship again.
“The situation is the same as before, 41 points to make up are a lot. Another race like today’s will be needed to get closer to Quartararo. Fabio is strong, he is having an incredible season and even on a track like this, where the Yamaha is struggling, he was in front. He deserves what he is achieving”.