Francesco Bagnaia says the MotoGP Thai Gr🃏and Prix was “absolutely” a m🥃ust-win for his self-confidence after closing down Jorge Martin in the championship.

The factory Ducati rider brushed off a difficult sprint race on Saturday at Buriram in which he lost two points to Martin to dominate 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:the wet grand prix on Sunday.

Taking the lead on lap five when Martin ran off track at Turn 3, Bagnaia resisted intense pressure from Marc Marquez before a crash for the Gresini rider boosted the Italian ꧃into an un♉assailable advantage.

Bagnaia beat Martin by 2.9s to score his ninth grand prix win of the season and the first wet victory of his career to reduce Martin’s championship ℱlead from 22 points to 17 with two rounds to go.

“🗹Absolutely,” he replied when asked if Thailand was a must-win.

“In terms of champion😼ship, not too much. But in terms of feeling, in terms of mental side, it was v🅺ery important - not just for me, but also for him.

“So, it’s a good day for us fꦚor everything. And the 17 [points] that is the gap is a good number for me.”

He added: “It was a day to make the diffeꩲrence🔴 and luckily we did it.

“I want to dedicate this victory to my team, because after the morning we just sat down and spoke🐷 a🅘bout what to do to improve the situation because I was struggling a lot on braking.

“And 𒈔we did it, again. I’m so happy. It wasn’t an easy race because it was very long and stressful, but as soon as I started I ✤saw my feeling was very good and I saw Jorge pushing a lot.

“But I just de💞cided to wait two more laps to make sure the rear was more ready, and as soon as it was I just tried to catch him back.

“Then I opened the gap, but Marc was pushing hard. The l༺ap he crashed just we were two tenths faster in sector three, so it was an incredible lap already and the pace was super strong.

“I knew it was important that I fiℱnished first rather than second to g💟ain more points for the championship.”

Bagnaia was asked what led to his difficult spri🦩nt race in the dry on Saturday, but all he would say was that🍸 it was a “box secret” and that the team was “too safe” with something.

On Thailand being his first win, Bagnaia explained why it had tak🐬en until now for him 🉐to break that duck.

“Because I always crashed, but I was always not fast en﷽ough,” he said.

“Two years ago ꦿI was fighting for the win [in the wet in Thailand], but I finished two seconds behind the leader.

“The pace was there but not enough. Today from the start I believed a lot on trying to do it, and it was the best ti♛me.”