After finishing MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix qualifying in a “not acceptable” 12th place, Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia insisted that “something not working” on his bike in rainy weather.
Prior to Sunday’s 16th round of the 2022 season at Motegi, the Italian is only 10 points behind championship leader Fabio Quartararo.
However, Bagnaia struggled greatly in Saturday’s rainy qualifying, finishing in 12th place, 2.1 seconds off the pole position, behind Quartararo and Aleix Espargaro, two other title contenders.
Bagnaia, who fought his way to 15th place in the rainy Indonesian GP in March, was confused as to why he performed worse than expected.
“I think that something is not working, because last year I was always competitive in the wet and this year not,” Bagnaia said.
“I’m always struggling. The one time we raced in the wet was in Indonesia, I finished 15th. And then all the practice in wet I was struggling.
“So maybe in this moment on this bike I’m not in my best moment on wet.
“But we have to check the data. I know that for sure something happened because it’s not possible to be two seconds [off the pace].
“I was slower than this morning in a better situation and better condition.
“So, in this moment this result is not acceptable and I need to discover why.”
Bagnaia admits that the fact that he advanced directly into Q2 at the conclusion of practise on Friday was his saving grace on Saturday because he had performed worse in qualifying in better conditions than he did in a wet FP2 this morning. His time of 1m57.373s would have put him in 21st place on the grid.
“Sincerely I’m not having feeling on my bike, so it’s difficult to know the limit,” he added.
“Normally I’m good in the wet, so it’s strange to be last.
“The only good thing was to be in the top 10 already [at the end of practice], and with my lap time I think I would have been last today.
“So, the only good thing was to be in the top 10 [at the end of FP2].”
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Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia, Ducati, Fabio Quartararo, Francesco Bagnaia, MOTO, Moto racing, Motocross, MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix, Yamaha
