Francesco Bagnaia on Jorge Martin lap time: “Tomorrow will be different…”
Francesco Bagnaia: 'It’s the best Friday so far, also from a long time last year'.
Reigning double MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia was in real danger of a trip to Qualifying 1 as he left the factory Ducati garage for his final Friday practice run at COTA.
But the Italian jumped from outside the top ten to 4th on his penultimate lap of the hour and later insisted the day had been far better than it looked from the outside.
“I feel good honestly. I think it’s the best Friday so far, also from a long time last year, so I’m happy,” said Bagnaia, seeking redemption this weekend after falling from a big lead one year ago.
“My feeling was really good and we managed to do a good session. We did a different strategy to the others, with more laps on the medium rear.
“It worked and I’m happy, but we also saw that the soft was with a good potential, so tomorrow we will do more laps on the soft to decide on the race tyre.”
Looking at the 0.4s gap to Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales at the head of the Friday timesheets, Bagnaia said:
“For sure Jorge did a really good lap time, like Maverick, but let’s see. Tomorrow will be different…”
Bagnaia has slipped to fourth in the world championship after tangling with Marc Marquez last time in Portimao.
Team-mate Enea Bastianini was eighth quickest.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
