Francesco Bagnaia settled for second place behind winner and fellow Ducati rider Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) on an almost dry track in the Saturday Sprint race at the Buddh International Circuit.
A complicated day saw torrential rainfall shortly after the morning’s MotoGP qualifying, which was then followed by a lengthy delay for the track to dry out and a supplementary practice session. The race itself, reduced to 11 laps, saw Martin power into the lead from the middle of the front row at the start, followed by Bagnaia, who had qualified third on the grid.
Bagnaia was never able to get close enough to the winner, but despite not being entirely at ease on his bike, he could comfortably hold on to second place throughout the race. Bagnaia now has a 33-point lead over Martin.
Michele Pirro, who got off from the eighth row of the grid from 22nd position, closed the Sprint 14th.
Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 2nd
“Second place was a decent result for me, the best we could have hoped for today because I didn’t have a perfect set-up on the bike. We are missing something in the last few races, Jorge has made a step forward and we must understand what we can improve. Before I was very strong in the braking but in the last couple of weekends, I’m struggling to stop the bike, we are sliding too much and have a lot of chattering on the rear, which is strange, but I’m confident we can resolve everything for tomorrow. I was a bit lucky that Bezzecchi had a contact at the first corner otherwise I would probably have finished third, so today it was important to finish in our position.”
Michele Pirro (#51 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 14th
“The whole weekend has been a bit complicated for me, I have really struggled. The only positive thing in the race was that I managed to lap close to my qualifying times and this means that I took a step forward in that direction. Compared to qualifying we have reduced the gap, so I hope to take a further step tomorrow and finish the race in the best possible way.”
On Sunday, the Ducati Lenovo Team riders will be out on track for ten minutes of warm-up at 11.10 local time (07.40 CEST), while the first-ever Grand Prix of India, which has also been reduced to 21 laps from 24 due to heat concerns, will start at 15.30 local time (12.00 CEST).