At the MotoGP Indian Grand Prix last September, Francesco Bagnaia made a mistake and suffered a fall while he was in second place ahead of Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati). This allowed the Spaniard to significantly close in on the championship lead held by the Ducati rider. His chief mechanic, Cristian Gabarrini, considers it to be a significant incident.
The engineer told the newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport that if Bagnaia had not fallen in India, the current situation would be much more encouraging for the defending champion, and not so much for Martín: ‘The fall in India weighed heavily on us, Pecco had caught him, passed him, and left him there, and the other one had exploded. Without the fall, we would be talking about something else, there would still be a big advantage and Martín would have a lower crest. This is the reality‘.
That said, Gabarrini clarified that he likes Martín’s way of being: ‘I like Martín, the attitude he has, always combative, aggressive, and positive. But it is natural that he will try to pressure Pecco’.
