Tests and adjustments bring success for Bagnaia but “can’t say” what changes were made
Francesco Bagnaia finished Friday with the top lap time but remained secretive over what changes he and his Ducati team had made in Jerez during practice.
After an Austin round that did not go his way - eighth in the sprint and fifth on Sunday, Francesco Bagnaia and his Lenovo Ducati team and mechanics had been looking for improvements and practice results suggest they have been found.
After finishing the first session in twelfth while looking to be making changes, the #1 bike was back on top with a new lap record - which was needed after Maverick Vinales had already lowered the old benchmark.
Bagnaia had just one word to describe his return to form - it felt ‘better’:
“Better, even better - compared to Austin, I feel a bit better".
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The reigning champion has seen success at Jerez - as recently as last year where he won the Sunday feature race. The Italian revealed that a series of adjustments over the day to test new things had brought success:
“We plan this Friday as a test - compare the past and it works, we test more things than normal. In the last part of P2 I was feeling great with the used tyres and we put in the new tyres - we were able to do the record so happy - very happy.
“But still, it is a long weekend - so feet on the ground and keep working because I think we still have some margin, but we are in a good point”.
When pressed on what changes had been made the Ducati man was tight-lipped offering only “I can’t say”.
Bagnaia acknowledged that in Jerez it is always hard to make the leap to the front as so many riders have so many laps under their belt from testing that everyone does well:
“The level is quite high, like always, considering the amount of laps we having on the tyres I’m happy. We had to wait to understand better the pace of each rider - but right now I’m happy”.
Finally, Bagnaia’s focus turned to the races ahead where he is already thinking about what his tyre choice will be:
“The pace was quite good on the soft used and I think that tomorrow with the race we will be with the soft”.
