Was tense COTA MotoGP sprint battle with Marc Marquez a sign of hope for Pecco Bagnaia?
Double MotoGP champion Bagnaia reflects on COTA sprint podium
Pecco Bagnaia says his battle with Marc Marquez on lap one of the MotoGP Americas Grand Prix sprint was “the first time I felt I had a chance” to challenge him in 2025.
Factory Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia has not had the start to the season expected, after coming off a 2024 in which he won 11 grands prix and narrowly missed out on a third world title.
Starting the Americas GP weekend 31 points behind team-mate Marquez in the standings after two rounds, Bagnaia could only qualify fifth-best of the Ducatis in sixth on the grid.
But for the first time in 2025, Bagnaia led a race - albeit briefly - after battling hard with Marquez in the first sequence of corners in the sprint, before eventually finishing third.
Commenting on this battle, Bagnaia told the official MotoGP website: “It was great, because for the first time I felt I had a chance because we worked a lot - I worked a lot - and we are getting closer.
“I know that the way will be long, but unluckily I lost a bit of feeling in the first part of the last test and in the first two races.
“So, to keep the same pace is not easy but we are working on it and we are finding it.”
Marquez ultimately won the 10-lap sprint to maintain his 100% record in 2025, while Bagnaia was 1.918s adrift in third.
Bagnaia, as he has done in all races so far this season, found himself quickly cast away from Marc Marquez and Alex Marquez before closing in on the latter by the chequered flag.
Spending the COTA weekend so far working on improving his feeling under braking on his GP25, Bagnaia says he must also find something to be faster in the early laps of races.
“It was great from my side,” Bagnaia added on his launch from sixth to first at the start.
“I did a very good start and when I saw I was on the inside I just tried to try.
“And the attempt went well. So, I’m happy about it, but I just need to work more for the first laps because in laps two, three and four I lost too much time.
“I lost 1.5s to Alex, and this was too much. Then I was able to have a great pace, similar to them, but I just needed the first laps to have more of a chance to fight.”
Now 36 points behind Marc Marquez in the championship, Bagnaia is expecting his Ducati team-mate have something extra in the grand prix.
However, he believes he can take the fight to Alex Marquez for the first time this season.
“Tomorrow will be very long,” he said.
“I think the rear tyre choice maybe will not be the soft because the tyre consumption was quite huge.
“So let’s see. But Marc maybe today was controlling a bit, so let’s see tomorrow, but a battle between me and Alex will be possible.
“So, we will try the maximum, we will try to fight against them and see if we can make another step in front.”
