Was Thai MotoGP a must-win for Francesco Bagnaia? “Absolutely”
“In terms of feeling, in terms of mental side, it was very important”
Francesco Bagnaia says the MotoGP Thai Grand Prix was “absolutely” a must-win for his self-confidence after closing down Jorge Martin in the championship.
The factory Ducati rider brushed off a difficult sprint race on Saturday at Buriram in which he lost two points to Martin to dominate the wet grand prix on Sunday.
Taking the lead on lap five when Martin ran off track at Turn 3, Bagnaia resisted intense pressure from Marc Marquez before a crash for the Gresini rider boosted the Italian into an unassailable advantage.
Bagnaia beat Martin by 2.9s to score his ninth grand prix win of the season and the first wet victory of his career to reduce Martin’s championship lead from 22 points to 17 with two rounds to go.
“Absolutely,” he replied when asked if Thailand was a must-win.
“In terms of championship, not too much. But in terms of feeling, in terms of mental side, it was very important - not just for me, but also for him.
“So, it’s a good day for us for everything. And the 17 [points] that is the gap is a good number for me.”
He added: “It was a day to make the difference and luckily we did it.
“I want to dedicate this victory to my team, because after the morning we just sat down and spoke about what to do to improve the situation because I was struggling a lot on braking.
“And we did it, again. I’m so happy. It wasn’t an easy race because it was very long and stressful, but as soon as I started I saw my feeling was very good and I saw Jorge pushing a lot.
“But I just decided to wait two more laps to make sure the rear was more ready, and as soon as it was I just tried to catch him back.
“Then I opened the gap, but Marc was pushing hard. The lap he crashed just we were two tenths faster in sector three, so it was an incredible lap already and the pace was super strong.
“I knew it was important that I finished first rather than second to gain more points for the championship.”
Bagnaia was asked what led to his difficult sprint race in the dry on Saturday, but all he would say was that it was a “box secret” and that the team was “too safe” with something.
On Thailand being his first win, Bagnaia explained why it had taken until now for him to break that duck.
“Because I always crashed, but I was always not fast enough,” he said.
“Two years ago I was fighting for the win [in the wet in Thailand], but I finished two seconds behind the leader.
“The pace was there but not enough. Today from the start I believed a lot on trying to do it, and it was the best time.”
