With three rounds left in the MotoGP season, Francesco Bagnaia arrives at the Thai GP 20 points behind leader Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati). For this reason, the Ducati rider cannot afford any slip-ups if he wants to be champion.
The Italian emphasized in a press conference that his goal is to win again, reacting to a less-than-stellar Australian GP: ‘The ambition is to do it, to recover points and be competitive. We know that this track is better for me in terms of performance. I’ve always been on the podium in Phillip Island in the past three seasons, but I was never the fastest, and I was struggling more or less every season – this year more, we went the wrong direction on Saturday, then was a bit too late on Sunday, and these two guys [Marc Márquez and Jorge Martín] were just faster. So, I had to slow down and just try to finish the race because I was struggling a lot with the tyres’.
Bagnaia is confident that the potential at the Thai GP will be greater: ‘We are arriving here, that is a track that I like, it’s a track where our potential can be higher, and I love the layout, so we can have a good weekend’.
Currently in second place in the championship, the 2022 and 2023 champion dismisses the idea that this represents more pressure: ‘I feel the same as always. This is the fourth season in a row that I’m fighting for the championship. It’s true that in 2021 I lost it three races from the end, and in the past two seasons I was always behind or in front. But for me, the strategy is always the same. So, preparing well the weekend, the pressure is the same being the leader or the hunter. It’s the risk that changes a bit, but I think I will do it in the same way as always’.