Pecco Bagnaia was therefore able to take advantage of the fall of Pedro Acosta, who was leading the race, to take victory during the Sprint Race at the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi. Bagnaia also just beat his teammate Enea Bastianini and the Ducati Gresini of Marc Marquez, in the last meters of the race, leaving doubt about a possible sensational rebound… A real false idea according to the Ducati official.
This success during Sprint
of Motegi allows the Italian driver to recover several points on Jorge Martinchampionship leader, who finished in fourth position. Bagnaia is now approaching 15 points from Martinwhich restarts the title race.
However, attention turned to the final round, where
Bastianini et
Marc Marquez seemed to catch up
Bagnaia.
Pecco Bagnaia: « everything was under control »
Despite this suspense, Bagnaia quickly dispelled doubts about his control of the situation: “
everything was under control. At the start of the last lap I was 1.3 seconds ahead of Enea, so I figured I could slow down without them being able to catch me. I saw that it was starting to rain againand I didn’t want to take no risk today, so I resisted. A second place would have been nice. The important thing is to stay one step ahead of Jorgeand as long as that is possible, then everything will be fine. »
The Italian also mentioned that he was not aware of the exact position of Martin during the race:
Martin? I didn’t know where he was. Only once did I see on the screens that he had a big difference with us. It is not yet time to have this information, the team only lets me know his status when he is out of the race “. And he ends: “ Enea Bastianini did me a favor, but I still would have won ».
With this victory, Bagnaia places itself in an excellent position to continue to reduce the gap with
Martin in the fight for the championship.
Starting grid Japanese Grand Prix:
MotoGP Sprint Race Results
MotoGP General Ranking
