Francesco Bagnaia: Last lap of Mugello sprint “super scary” after crashing out in Catalunya
Francesco Bagnaia had Barcelona on his mind after a fall from the last lap, ensuring there was no repeat as he claimed his first sprint win in ten mo༒nths at Mugello.
Francesco Bagnaia had a long wait for a sprint 🐼gold medal, his last coming in Austria 2023, though he came close just last weekend in the Catalan Sprint.
Speaking after the race the Ducati Lenovo Team rider was in🌌credibly happy🔯 with his performance, the bike and how he managed his tyre wear:
“I’m🍌 💟very happy, we were close in the last one in Barcelona… we managed everything in a perfect way, The start - I started to push - I just trued to move a bit s the rear tyre drop was huge. I was not expecting to have this sort of drop from the front of the tyre, the last two laps were quite difficult to manage, to remain in a constant pace, but very happy.
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I saw that it was the same for everybody, it was the same situation. Tomorrow with double the laps ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚwill be to﷽ugh, but happy for today.”
The Ducati rider fell on the last lap last time out and that played on his mind, the cautio🐼n ensuring there was no repeat in Tuscany in front of the home fans:
“It was 🌼super scary, when I arrive at corner ten, that is the one… and also on corner twelve, luckily I managed to finish it”.
For the sprint race the #1 started from pole, and although the Italian has a great home record at Mugello, dominating the round last season with a sprint and feature race win from pole, tomorrow the challenge will be that bit harder thanks to his three place grid penalty awarded on Friday after riding slowly in front🔯 of Alex Marquez, a sanction which he and the Ducati team appealed unsuccessfully and earlier in the day saw a still troubled Bagnaia refer to his demotion as “clown penalties”.
Resigned to his fate, the reigning champion is ready to try to lessen rival Jorge Martin’s lead this year from 🉐fifth on the grid and still thinks he has a chance of further success:
“It really depends on the start and from the pace - it will be another story, but we are here to fight and we try to fight”.
