“You have to play hard”
Francesco Bagnaia created a masterpiece on the Jerez circuit. In a race in which he immediately attacked from the start, overtook on the outside, battled hand-to-hand with a possessed Marc Marquez and signed the fastest lap at the end, the reigning world champion achieved a success important, especially for morale: “You have to play hard, it's the only way to stay ahead, otherwise you always hold back and it becomes more complicated. The fight was tough but done the right way, as is always normal, but overall I'm extremely happy with the result. It was a nice show of strength.” He savored the victory a lot: “It's in the top 3 of the most beautiful. It was very close in the first lap, but also in the last laps with Marc Marquez. It was a well crafted victory. The championship is really long and at the moment looking at the points isn't very useful.”
Jerez: Bagnaia wins as champion, Marquez excellent second. Martin on the ground
How did Pecco return to success? “We need to work like we did this weekend, find the best possible feeling and then do the races as we know how to do. When we feel good we are always fighting for the podium which is the most important thing. It helped me and the team. After two consecutive races in difficulty, you start to ask yourself a lot of questions, especially the team, to find a solution. This weekend we worked extremely well. Tomorrow we will finish the work we started”. The crew chief Cristian Gabarrini was there to celebrate the success, particularly excited and Pecco admitted: “He was happy: we are a very united team and if we are in difficulty we all are. Winning like this gives a nice adrenaline rush.”
2024 MotoGP calendar
Marquez is now aware of what he can do
Francesco Bagnaia's first rival was Jorge Martin, but since he crashed, Marc Marquez soon took his place. Starting from pole position, he declared: “I had fun on the bike. I did the first five laps and I was quite stiff, and that's normal because I crashed in Austin and also yesterday. I made a mistake at turn 13 and I told myself to keep calm and after the first 15 laps I started to push a little more and feel better. Everyone struggled to overtake because the pressure on the front tire increased, but when I overtook I had the speed to continue like this. At the first attempt Bagnaia defended himself very well. I'm happy because it's not easy to do a race like this after two crashes.”
The eight-time world champion returned to fight for victory: “I saw that I had the chance and I tried. Pecco defended himself strongly but these are races and that's fine. Now thinking about winning is no longer a pipe dream, let's enjoy this return to the podium and speed.”
“I learned to drive through problems”
There was also a return for Marco Bezzecchi, who we saw him reach the podium, a finish he had missed since the Indonesian GP last year. After an uphill start, everything changed in Jerez and he said: “We found good sensations straight away and this helped me to be a little faster, so generally we worked well. I'm really happy. I've been missing him for a while, between the injury last year at the end of the year and this difficult start. We needed a good race.” This could represent a good starting point from which to start again and tomorrow he will also face an important day of testing: “We have a lot of work to do, obviously I don't consider myself to have arrived. It will be a test to try some changes. I'm curious to understand how they will make me feel while driving. Now some tracks are coming that I really like and I want to try to be competitive.”
This podium gives him a good boost, but he prefers to fly low: “I'll be able to say I'm back when I can reconfirm myself, which is the most difficult thing. It was a nice weekend, but everything can change in an instant on the bike. I saw it on myself last year. We did a good job in Jerez, because last year I struggled, but before saying I'm back I want to do at least one more.” This difficult moment that he experienced certainly helped him: “Unfortunately or fortunately, you always learn in the most difficult moments. I think I've grown as a rider, I've managed to adapt better to the bike, to ride a little above the problems. Today I wasn't 100%, I'm still missing something. In the meantime we're enjoying ourselves, there's little to say we're enjoying ourselves.”
MotoGP riders ranking
