Bagnaia angry after ‘disaster’ Sprint grows points deficit

The factory Ducati rider took pole position but got bogged down on the start with a slipping clutch.

Pramac Racing’s Martin shot to the lead from fourth into Turn 1 at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli and never relinquished the lead.

Bagnaia tried to mount an attack late in the race but had to give up after his tyres turned to “butter” and settled for second.

“Absolutely not happy,” said Bagnaia in parc ferme.

“I tried but Jorge was braking hard. After the start, it was a disaster. I lost the first position and from that moment it was very difficult.

“In any case, second position after what happened last week is okay. We will work to improve the start because it was a disaster and then try to be in a better shape tomorrow.”

Bagnaia sits 26 points behind Martin in the standings with seven sprints and eight grands prix remaining this year.

Although not an insurmountable gap by any means, there has been very little to spit them all year long.

Martin and Bagnaia have finished nine of the 12 grands prix to date on the podium and both have two grand prix DNFs.

The difference has been in sprints. Martin has finished 11 of 13 sprints on the podium while Bagnaia has just five sprint podiums.

“I’m angry because I lost the opportunity,” said Bagnaia.

“I missed a good start. My clutch [slipped] a lot and I didn’t have a good start.

“From that moment I was behind Jorge, I was just trying to be as close as possible to have an attempt but after three or four laps the front tyre was like bitter.

“From that moment, it was very difficult. The same in the last three or four laps. I had to give up because I was close to crashing.

“It was the only possibility to finish second. We have time to tomorrow to understand what to do and we will try.”

The San Marino Motorcycle Grand Prix is scheduled to start on Sunday at 10pm AEST.

Results: San Marino Motorcycle Grand Prix Tissot Sprint, Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli