Bagnaia (Ducati/5th): Very impressed with Acosta / MotoGP

This time the “Circuit of the Americas” was not a small reason to be happy for the MotoGP world champion Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia. After a poor run in Saturday’s race, the native of Turin also had to bow out to teammate Enea Bastianini in the main race. Bagnaia took the checkered flag in fifth place. The #1 position was 7.4 seconds behind the dominant winner Maverick Viñales (Aprilia), who plowed through the field after a completely broken start phase. Champion Bagnaia has already opened a gap of 30 points in the World Cup table.

VR46 Academy protégé Bagnaia explains: “I used the soft rear tire from the sprint during the morning warm-up to understand if the soft tire would last the whole distance. I think it was the right choice. Maverick and Pedro were in the middle. And they had good speed even after many laps. But if Enea made a few mistakes, then he too could fight for victory and was also on a soft tire.

Regarding his own performance, he says: “My race started well. Until the sixth lap, I thought I could fight for the win or for the podium. Then I got strong tremors on the left side. Then I completely destroyed the tire on the right side. It was also very difficult to do right hand bends. It was very difficult, I tried to manage everything. I was just on defense from the seventh round onwards.”

Bagnaia knows very well: “We have to understand the situation and then solve it. For me, the situation is similar to 2022, where I also had to defend myself and play more defensively at the beginning of the year. But I have a lot of faith in my team that we can manage this again with the necessary calm – we will fight for the top again.”

And Pecco then admits: “It’s surprising because Enea Bastianini didn’t have vibrations at all this weekend. I felt good. Martin was very fast all these days – but on Sunday he had problems. It’s difficult, the situation with three bikes. Franco is still learning , so it is difficult to let him ride with the same package and Enea had problems with the brakes and then on Sunday he was able to ride to victory. In this case, we have to fight for the victory for six laps.”

During the race, Bagnaia also got to know the tricks of rookie Pedro Acosta: “Acosta impressed me more than I expected. He’s really, really fast. He doesn’t care about anything – not even the tires. He’s fearless. To fight like that without any experience is great. I just have to shout at him He and KTM are a great combination! But I want to be in front of them again. The only area where I was really strong this time was on the brakes.”

US GP Results:
1. Maverick (E) April 41:09.503 minutes.
2. Pedro Acosta (E) GASGAS +1.728 sec.
3. Enea Bastianini (I) Ducati +2.703 sec.
4. Jorge Martín (L) Pramac Ducati +4.690 sec.
5. Francesco Bagnaia (I) Ducati +7.392 sec.
6. Fabio Di Giannantonio (I) VR46 Ducati +9.980 sec.
7. Aleix Espargaró (E) Aprilia +12.208 seconds.
8. Marco Bezzecchi (I) VR46 Ducati +13.343 sec.
9. Brad Binder (ZA) KTM +14.931 sec.
10. Raúl Fernández (E) Trackhouse Aprilia +16.656 sec.
11. Miguel Oliveira (P) Trackhouse Aprilia +18,542 sec.
12. Fabio Quartararo (F) Yamaha +22,899 sec.
13. Jack Miller (AUS) KTM +24,011 sec.
14. Augusto Fernandez (E) GASGAS +27.652 sec.
15. Alex Márquez (L) Gresini Ducati +32.855 sec.
16. Luca Marini (I) Repsol Honda +33,528 sec.
17. Marc Márquez (ESP) Gresini Ducati out
18. Alex Rins (E) Yamaha out
19. Joan Mir (E) Repsol Honda out
20. Franco Morbidelli (I) Pramac Ducati out
21. Takaaki Nakagami (J) LCR Honda out
22. Johann Zarco (F) LCR Honda out

World Championship of Drivers to Austin:
1. Martin 80
2. Bastianini 59
3. Vinales 56
4. Acosta 54
5. Bagnaia 50
6. Fastener 49
7. Espargaro 39
8. Marc Marquez 36
9. And Giannantonio 25
10. Miller 22
11. Bezzecchi 20
12. Every quarter
13. Alex Márquez 14
14. Oliveira 13
15. Raúl Fernández 7
16. Augusto Fernandez 7
17. Mir 7
18. Zarco 5
19. When 3
20. Nakagami 2
21. Morbidelli 0
22. Marini 0

Designers:
1. Ducati 96
2. KTM 76
3. April 72
4. Yamaha 19
5. Honda 8
Team:
1. Ducati Lenovo 109
2. April 95
3. Pramac 80
4. KTM 71
5. YEAR 61
6. Grease 50
7. VR46 45
8. Yamaha 22
9. Trackhouse 20
10. Honda 7
11. LCR 7