Francesco Bagnaia “felt slow” in Emilia Romagna MotoGP practice

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia says he “felt slow” during Friday’s MotoGP practice at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and was “impressed” by his lap times.

The double world champion topped Friday practice with a new lap record at MotoGP’s second visit to Misano, Bagnaia outpacing standing leader Jorge Martin with a 1m30.286s.

On top of this, Bagnaia - who claimed pole at the first Misano event - showed exceptionally strong race pace to mark himself out as one of the favourites for victory alongside Martin this weekend.

Reflecting on his day, Bagnaia said: “I’m impressed by the lap time we did today, because the feeling on the track this afternoon wasn’t the best because the rear grip and also the front grip wasn’t the best.

“I was feeling a lot of locking, a lot of movement from the rear on the edge.

“But then the lap time we were doing was incredible. I think me and Jorge brought something different compared to the others.

“Our pace is very strong, very fast with the medium rear and then the time attack was fantastic.

“So, very happy. I think tomorrow we will improve a bit, but also it will be colder in the morning, so the time attack will be quite tricky also. But, happy overall.”

Bagnaia added that he didn’t feel particularly quick despite the lap times he was producing, while noting that he’s been able to focus fully on riding this week now he is fully recovered from the injuries he suffered at the Aragon GP.

“I felt slow but the lap times were arriving, because I think I was very smooth on the acceleration and the braking and the bike was working well,” he said.

“The only part where I was slow was the middle of the corner because the grip wasn’t the best.

“But, as soon as I was picking up [the bike] the traction was there. So, I was a bit impressed in the first exit doing 1m31.9 on the medium.

“But then everything was good, and this time compared to two weeks ago I can just be focused on the set-up of the bike and not thinking about what to do with my body because of the pain.

“This is making a big difference to me.”

The Ducati rider believes replicating his best lap from Friday will be difficult in qualifying as colder conditions are expected, but using the soft front tyre won’t be an option.

“A lot,” he replied when asked how much conditions will affect qualifying, “because also we can’t go with the soft front because it’s too soft and already in the fast corners you can start having a lot of locking and movement.

“So, we will understand it tomorrow but I think maybe we will need one more lap to warm well the front tyre and then push.”