Francesco Bagnaia explains last lap “risk” that almost cost him Japan MotoGP sprint win
‘Maybe I slowed down a bit too much’
Francesco Bagnaia says rain on the last lap of the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix sprint led to him slowing right down and almost cost him victory.
The world champion led from second on the grid for the first two laps of the Motegi sprint, but was overtaken by poleman Pedro Acosta on the third tour and looked set to stay in second to the chequered flag.
But a crash for the Tech3 rider on lap nine of 12 allowed Bagnaia back into the lead, while his gap at the front was 1.3s as he started the final tour courtesy of a big battle behind him between Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez.
Bagnaia then slowed right down on the final lap and was just 0.181s ahead of Bastianini at the chequered flag.
Explaining what he described as a “risk” on the last lap, Bagnaia told TNT Sport: “Finishing first is fantastic, so I’m very happy.
“I took a risk on the last lap by maybe slowing down a bit too much, but everything was under control. So, very happy.
“Just because in the last lap it started to rain a bit and when I saw I was with 1.3s of gap starting the last lap, I said ‘Ok, I have margin, I can slow down by a second’. And I did it and it was ok.”
He added: “I think we worked really good compared to Mandalika, where on the first day I started struggling and it was difficult to improve my performance.
“But on this track from the start of the weekend in FP1 I felt much better and today the conditions were not the easiest ones, because of the rain and some wet patches.”
In parc ferme, Bagnaia also revealed that he had to complete the race on a lower power map to save fuel because he burned up more on the sighting lap trying to understand the conditions before the start.
“We had to sacrifice a bit of performance during the race to understand better the conditions before the race without using the map to go slower,” he said.
“So, I had to do all the race with the map with less power. But everything was fine.”
Bagnaia’s third successive sprint win in 2024 and a fourth for Jorge Martin, after the Pramac rider started 11th, has seen the Italian close his championship points deficit to 15.
Acosta’s crash gifted Bagnaia three points more than he was set to score had the Tech3 rider gone on to win the sprint.
However, Bagnaia believes he has “to expect” Acosta to be a rival in the grand prix on Sunday.
“Was very difficult to lead today,” he said.
“Pedro was doing a very good job I think. When I saw him crash I just said to myself ‘Ok, you have to push two, three laps to open more the gap the Enea and then control’.
“But he [Acosta] was pushing a lot, taking some margin, but on that lap I think he entered a bit too fast in that corner. But we have to expect him in the race tomorrow.”
