Francesco Bagnaia has hailed the ongoing advice of Casey Stoner after taking his third MotoGP race win in a row.
Bagnaia’s triumph in the Austrian Grand Prix matched Stoner’s record for consecutive victories on a Ducati, and Valentino Rossi’s for consecutive victories by an Italian in the MotoGP era.
The 2018 Moto2 champion is a graduate of the VR46 Riders Academy and therefore has a close relationship with Rossi.
However, he also has regular contact with one of his predecessors at the factory Ducati Team, and indeed the Bologna marque’s only MotoGP title winner to date, that being Stoner.
Bagnaia had found himself off the pace on the Friday of the previous round, the British Grand Prix, and again at the Red Bull Ring, but went on to win both of those races.
On each occasion, he also had some advice from Stoner early in the weekend.
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“I spoke again with Vale and with Casey,” said Bagnaia of the Austrian MotoGP event.
“With Vale, he’s more like my mentor and he always gives me advice about tyres, and he was saying to me, ‘Don’t use the soft front [tyre], because it will be long’, and I used the soft front so he will for sure say something to me.
“About Casey, on Friday, he helps me to understand better maybe some situations, because looking from the vision, or from his experience that he rode here in the Ducati, that he feels something, and it’s like a comment on his experience.
“I try to see if I try something about his experience, and this weekend maybe something was helpful for me.”
The Ducati Lenovo Team’s current Australian rider, Jack Miller, had high praise for the man who is receiving guidance from his countryman.
“The team’s in great form at the moment,” said ‘Jackass’.
“Pecco, with the three in a row, matching Casey, it shows how good he’s riding.
“Especially at the level of MotoGP at the moment, to do that in this day and age is incredible, so hat off to him and the whole team.”
Bagnaia has closed to 44 points behind Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo at the top of the world championship standings, while Miller fifth at two positions and a further 33 points back from his team-mate.
They will be team-mates for just seven races more, before Miller moves to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, while Ducati has just announced that Gresini Racing incumbent Enea Bastianini will be promoted to the works squad.
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