After taking some time to find a competitive pace, Francesco Bagnaia managed to secure a top-five position in the Practice for the MotoGP Thai GP. The Ducati rider overcame difficulties to finish fourth, just 0.195s behind the fastest rider – Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati), who set a new lap record in Buriram.
The 2022 and 2023 champion explained that he encountered some issues with the bike setup that required adjustments, but overall, he was satisfied with the day:
– For me, yes, in terms of feeling when we finished. We just had a small problem with one of the two bikes during the sessions. I felt good this morning, but this afternoon, as soon as I had to try a different set-up, the bike wasn’t working well. So, I had to stop, I had to try to adapt the set-up a bit on the other bike, but it wasn’t possible, so I struggled a bit with the adaptation – it wasn’t working well. So, I just changed again, and before the time attack, it was better again by going in other directions. I was ready for the time attack, without doing a very precise lap, I was able to be fast, so it was a good Friday.
Unlike his teammate Enea Bastianini, who complained about some braking issues, Bagnaia didn’t feel he had any major setbacks: ‘For me it’s not an issue. I’m able to brake very hard. We just saw the lap time in data, and I’m braking very hard. So, that’s not a problem for me. I’m just missing a bit at turn 4, and I didn’t have a very good Sector 3. But apart from that, braking is not a problem right now’.