Francesco Bagnaia felt he achieved ‘something incredible’ after clinching his second podium of the weekend at the San Marino Grand Prix a week after a frightening crash in Barcelona.
Bagnaia had to be helped off his Ducati in parc ferme at the end of the gruelling 27-lap race as he claimed 16 points for his world title bid in a damage limitation exercise, with closest rival Jorge Martin taking full advantage after wrapping up a double to close the deficit at the top to 36 points.
World champion Bagnaia tried all he could on the opening laps to find a way past pole man Martin, but the Italian said the right opportunity never presented itself.
“I tried in the first laps to overtake Jorge but I didn’t have the perfect chance,” said Bagnaia.
“I was close one lap but his advantage on some corners was too much to take an advantage and I was just gaining a lot in the first corner.
“But apart from that, we just have to be very happy with the work done. One week ago, we were struggling more and it was very difficult considering a race weekend like this, so I’m very happy, very proud of my people – we did something incredible I think.”
Bagnaia revealed his front tyre pressure began to give him problems in the race as he followed Martin closely, forcing him to eventually drop back to allow some cooler air to flow over his front wheel.
“Sincerely, we had a normal set-up [with front tyre pressure]. I was not knowing what to expect, it was more normal considering the race, following [Martin in front],” he explained.
“The pace to win the race was close but was not enough, and Jorge did something incredible this weekend.
“Following him, that front tyre pressure was [up] to the stars and it was very difficult after six laps to control everything, but we managed to be as close as possible.
“When it started to be too difficult, I had to leave a bit of gap and then I started losing time.”
In a repeat of the Sprint race, Bagnaia came under pressure from KTM wildcard rider Dani Pedrosa for the final place on the podium, but the 26-year-old’s strategy to take a breather ahead of an anticipated tough last couple of laps paid dividends.
“In the last laps I just tried to breathe a bit to have the bonus of performance in the last two or three laps to have a chance to not be overtaken by Dani; this was the best strategy I think,” said Bagnaia, who is likely to sit out Monday’s official test at Misano to rest up.
“Testing tomorrow, we have to consider everything but I think we will rest. We don’t have many things to try and it will be more important to rest and see after what to do.
“For India, it will be more OK, I will be like 100% and this is good news for sure.”
The post-race test at Misano starts this evening (AEST).
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