Tomorrow, for the first time this season, Pecco Bagnaia will start from the front row. There’s hope that this is a sign that Pecco has fully adapted to the GP22. It’s definitely a bike that does well on the flying lap in Austin, because there are four in front of everyone, accompanied by Bastianini’s GP21, which closes the quintet on the line-up.
“This bike has more potential than the previous one. I’ve been saying it since the first time I rode it. But when you have something new, there’s more work to do,” Pecco explained. “I struggled a bit with the first Grand Prix and this first weekend, along with the one in Argentina, in which I focused on my sensations and improved at every round.“
This gave him the confidence he needed to qualify, and he seems to have it for the race as well.
“It’ll be hard, but having fewer holes will help us to be more constant,” he stressed. “Last year, the problem for us were the holes, and now there are fewer. Also, with the new hull, the wind doesn’t bother us anymore, and we can better close the trajectory in the fast corners.”
They’ll have to figure out who their rivals are.
“Bastianini has kept a good pace throughout the weekend, but Quartararo and Marquez are also fast.” He identified the most dangerous.”Right now, there are many with a similar pace. It’s difficult to make predictions, also because t.”he wear on the rear tire is important. We’ll have to be smart in the first laps. Sometimes being slower at the beginning means being faster at the end.”
What if it’s a family affair, like in pole position?
“When you fight with riders who have the same bike as you, it’s easier to understand what they do, so it would certainly be better to fight against other Ducatis,” Bagnaia concluded.