Jack Miller, Sprint Race, Spanish MotoGP 29 April 2023 // Gold & Goose / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202304291096 // Usage for editorial use only //
Francesco Bagnaia conceded that it “wasn’t easy” to fight through to win the Spanish Grand Prix due to having to overcome the “incredible KTM” machines of Brad Binder and Jack Miller.
Tenaciousness was the buzzword for the factory Ducati ace across the Jerez race weekend having struggled across Friday practice, Bagnaia left a lowly 12th after FP2 which meant he had to run during Q1 in Saturday’s qualifying session.
The Italian brand managed to tune Bagnaia’s Desmosedici well overnight however and he managed to put his bike fifth on the grid for both encounters, which he then converted into a strong runners-up result in Saturday’s sprint race.
The reigning MotoGP world champion then went one better on Sunday as he put a move on sprint race victor Brad Binder with only a couple laps remaining of the Spanish GP to snatch a second win of the year, though he admitted post-race that “wasn’t easy” to overcome the South African’s “incredible” KTM challenger.
“Friday was difficult but the team worked a lot to give me a good feeling, I asked the correct things and the team worked well to give me what I needed and today with the little step we made from yesterday we won again,” explained Bagnaia.
“It wasn’t easy because KTM was incredible like yesterday, so I just tried to be precise and try to manage the tyres, and finally to get the win is special after everything that has happened recently, I’m really happy.
“When I overtook Jack (Miller) the first time I had the feeling that without someone in front my feeling with the front end was better, but as soon as I had to drop back behind Miller it was difficult to be back on the rear wheel again.
“But as soon as I got past I needed a couple laps to have the same feeling again and be able to push, because the pace was strong, and to see the 1:37.9 (fastest lap of the race) was great for sure.”
Bagnaia added that he feels his Spanish weekend is his “best one for Ducati” due to the adversity he had to overcome across the event en-route to supremacy, though was left unhappy with the instruction from race control to allow Jack Miller back through after the pair made light contact at Turn 6 at the mid-point of the contest.
“I think looking at what happened across the weekend, I think this is my best one for Ducati, close to the one at Silverstone but better because the fight was so incredible,” continued the 13-time premier class race winner.
”I really enjoyed the race and this weekend because it’s the sort of one that can help us grow together as a team.
“I don’t want to speak too much about this penalty, I accept it but in the future I want to see every time the same thing because we’ve seen much more aggressive overtakes than my one (without penalty), so I want to see the same thing going forward because if not then it’s not fair.”
Keyword: Bagnaia: Spanish GP win ‘not easy’ due to ‘incredible KTM’