Pecco Bagnaia (fall): "Maybe too ambitious" / MotoGP

Ducati MotoGP title hopeful Pecco Bagnaia threw seven points into the gravel trap at Mobility Resort Motegi on the last lap of the Japanese GP and was then annoyed with himself.

Pecco Bagnaia had his title rival Fabio Quartararo right in front of him when he tried to overtake at the third corner of the final lap, but crashed in the process. The Yamaha star was lucky that his closest pursuer didn’t drag him into the gravel and finished 8th.

Bagnaia was annoyed with himself with an ironic applause, as he later explained, because he knew: “It was an idiotic maneuver, I made a huge mistake.” With five races to go, his deficit in the championship standings grew again to 18 points.

“I had trouble overtaking today because my traction wasn’t the best today,” says Bagnaia after the race day in Japan. “I had trouble bringing the power to the track. It was a combination of spinning, sliding, wheelie tilt. Normally I prefer that the electronics don’t attack too much, I prefer to control it myself, but today it was difficult. I lost a bit of time in each acceleration phase. But I was very strong on the brakes and in this case I was a bit too optimistic. Luckily I didn’t touch Fabio when I fell and didn’t destroy his race.”

The six-time winner of the season, who only started from 12th place on the grid, struggled with the high air pressure in the front tires in the race, but he stated: “That can happen. It hasn’t often happened this year that I’ve been in a large group. We weren’t well prepared for that. But I want to make it clear that that’s not why I fell. I fell because I made a mistake. I have already apologized to my team.”

Was the fall the mistake, or was it just trying to do a maneuver when it was only a point? “One point can make all the difference,” Pecco replied and couldn’t help but smile briefly. “So I tried, but maybe I was too ambitious. If I had stayed behind Fabio or waited for a better chance to overtake, it would certainly have been better in hindsight. At the moment when I’m racing, my goal was to pass Fabio and then be close enough to Maverick in case he made another mistake. I was ambitious, but that’s the only thing I can do if I want to try and win the World Cup. So the mistake was the fall, for sure.”

Does Bagnaia’s approach change after the fifth overall of the season? Does he have to act more aggressively in view of the backlog that has grown again? “This weekend has certainly been quite strange. I was also competitive on Sunday morning. What happened in the race was a bit strange. But we know that it is difficult to set your own pace when you start at the back,” said the World Championship runner-up. «In the next races I will do my job, as always, and try to be competitive. I don’t have to act more aggressively, I just have to do what I did in Aragón or in Misano – drive my pace and try to make up points.”

MotoGP result, Motegi (25 September):

1. Miller, Ducati, 24 Rdn in 42:29,174 min
2. Brad Binder, KTM, + 3,409 sec
3. Martin, Ducati, +4,136
4. Marc Marquez, Honda, +7,784
5. Oliveira, KTM, + 8,185
6. Marini, Ducati, +8,348
7. Viñales, Aprilia, + 9.879
8. Quartararo, Yamaha, +10,193
9. Bastianini, Ducati, + 10.318
10. Bezzecchi, Ducati, + 16,419
11. Zarco, Ducati, + 16,586
12. Pol Espargaro, Honda, +17,456
13. Alex Marquez, Honda, +18,219
14. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +19,012
15. Crutchlow, Yamaha, +19,201
16. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, + 25.473
17. By Giannantonio, Ducati, + 27.006
18. Raúl Fernández, KTM, + 29,374
19. Gardner, KTM, + 29,469
20. Nakagami, Honda, +43,294
– Bagnaia, Ducati, 1 round back
– Rins, Suzuki, 10 laps down
– Darryn Binder, Yamaha, 10 laps down
– Tsuda, Suzuki, 13 laps back
– Nagashima, Honda, 15 laps down

MotoGP World Championship standings (after 16 of 20 races):

1.Quartararo 219 Punkte. 2. Bagnaia 201. 3. Aleix Espargaró 194. 4. Bastianini 170. 5. Miller 159. 6. Brad Binder 148. 7. Zarco 138. 8. Martin 120. 9. Viñales 113. 10. Rins 108. 11. Oliveira 106. 12. Marini 101. 13. Bezzecchi 80. 14. Mir 77. 15. Marc Márquez 73. 16. Pol Espargaró 47. 17. Nakagami 46. 18. 18. Alex Márquez 42. 19. Morbidelli 28. 20. Di Giannantonio 23. 21. Dovizioso 15. 22. Darryn Binder 10. 23. Gardner 9. 24. Raúl Fernández 8. 25. Crutchlow 3. 26. Bradl 2.

Constructors’ Championship:
1. Ducati 371 points (title winner). 2. Aprilia 226. 3. Yamaha 221. 4. KTM 181. 5. Suzuki 134. 6. Honda 113.

Team World Cup:
1. Ducati Lenovo Team 360 Punkte. 2. Aprilia Racing 307. 3. Prima Pramac Racing 258. 4. Red Bull KTM Factory 254. 5. Monster Energy Yamaha 247. 6. Gresini Racing 193. 7. Suzuki Ecstar 185. 8. Mooney VR46 Racing 181. 9. Repsol Honda 122. 10. LCR Honda 88. 11. WithU Yamaha RNF 28. 12. Tech3 KTM Factory 17.

Welcome to the Motegi race