Bagnaia “normally better on right-corner tracks”, but ready to fight Marquez
One of the favourites for last season’s race win, the reigning MotoGP champion started the Grand Prix well before crashing out of second place while following Fabio Quartararo.
The Yamaha rider would eventually go on to win the race and open up a 91-point lead in the championship, before the unthinkable happened as Bagnaia overturned the biggest points deficit ever to become champion.
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And while winning the title would have felt like a distant dream at that moment in time, Bagnaia admitted in the lead up to this weekend that his crash and subsequent run of results that took him to glory have helped him ‘believe’ that anything is possible.
Asked what he learned from Sachsenring 2022, Bagnaia said: "To believe, always. It was a difficult moment because it wasn’t the first time that I was competitive then lost everything.
"I just tried to understand. The meeting after the race was very important. From that moment, it changed.
"From Assen we were always fighting for the win. It’s a track where, last year, the performance was there. In the race, everybody knows, I crashed.
"The important thing is to start how we finished, with the feeling I had last year. I’m confident the performance can be there."
If Bagnaia, who won both races at Mugello, is to extend his winning streak to three and claim his first-ever win at Sachsenring in the process, then beating Marc Marquez will need to be achieved.
After missing last season’s race, Marquez gave up his crown at the German circuit to Quartararo, although the Repsol Honda rider remains unbeaten in MotoGP when competing at Sachsenring.
Given his phenomenal record it’s no surprise that Bagnaia is picking Marquez to be his main rival.
"Marc, for sure, has more possibility than others," added Bagnaia. "When he came back in 2021, he won here.
"It wasn’t an easy race. For me, the main contender at this track will be him."
