Pecco Bagnaia “understood something” amid Jerez MotoGP Sprint chaos

Pecco Bagnaia was among those to benefit from the mid-race rain in the Jerez MotoGP Sprint.

The factory Ducati rider was languishing in 16th place before the downpour, when he became only the second rider – after KTM’s Brad Binder – to dive into the pits for wets.

Although Bagnaia later felt he should have pitted even earlier, the decision transformed his race, propelling him into the lead with three laps to go.

But team-mate Marc Marquez – who turned a final turn accident into an advantage when he followed Binder, Bagnaia and Franco Morbidelli into the pits – was hot on Bagnaia’s tail.

Marquez swiftly pounced for the lead while Bagnaia, suffering with a lack of rear grip in wet and dry conditions, settled for second.

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However, the Italian rued the lost track time caused by an early crash with a new Ducati ‘modification’ in Friday practice, which he believes “can help” but needs more setup time.

Alex Marquez took the lead of the Sprint just before the rain arrived.

“Happy about the result, not happy about the performance, but during the race I understood something that can help,” Bagnaia told MotoGP.com after his second Sprint runner-up finish in a row.

“The modification we did yesterday with the bike that I crashed – it’s a shame that we didn’t do any laps yesterday because I could be more prepared for today.

“The bike has changed quite a bit, so we need to do big steps in terms of setup.

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“The big problem is the amount of rear grip. I’m losing a lot of rear grip, so it’s a problem, also in the dry.

“In the first part of the race I was struggling quite a lot. I was stuck behind the riders, but I could not have the pace to overtake them.

“But as soon as I saw the rain, I started to think about the [bike] change, and maybe I did it one lap too late – but it’s what it is.

“Then I tried to follow Marc who had a really great potential in the wet, much more than me.

“I kept his speed for one lap and a half, then I risked to crash heavy with a highside. So I decided to stop [chasing him].

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“It was a good result, so it’s okay like this. But for tomorrow we need to improve.”

Dry conditions are expected on Sunday, making the ten-minute warm-up  especially important.

“I think that if we will do the correct thing on the bike, we will be fast,” Bagnaia said.

Bagnaia declined to identify the modification.

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