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No sooner said than done. Yesterday afternoon he had predicted and promised it and on the last day of testing available on the Sepang circuit Pecco Bagnaia put it into action. The reigning MotoGP champion set a record-breaking 1m56.682s on a Thursday that saw him complete 47 laps, all at a pace that would scare the competition.
“Compared to one year ago, yes, I feel great with my bike. The only thing that made this test not 100% was in the long run I had an issue with the bike. It was slowing me down a bit but I already started so decided not to go in. it was better to continue - he explained before extolling the quality of the new Desmosedici - We demonstrated and know the potential of this bike and worked a lot to improve in just three days. I think we are at a good point and at 80% in terms of consistency. We move to Qatar in good shape. I think more or less it will be like this. Between now and then we will try some different maps for power delivery.”
As usual, concrete and down to earth, the Italian explained what made him so convinced on Wednesday that he would do well in the hunt for a fast time. “I was happy because it was an incredible lap time in my first time attack of the season. It was great but it was a test and the conditions were fantastic - he commented - It was the perfect time to do the time attack and so I’m happy for sure. I’m a guy that doesn’t think too much about good performance in a test. I think in the last part of the season, the last four races I was feeling back. It was always one of my best points, the time attack. At home it is impossible to improve. Maybe at the ranch you can practice with the go-kart, but on the MotoGP it is all natural. I just pushed like a time attack and the time arrived.”
Returning to the new features tested, including the fairing, the rider from Chivasso confirmed his previous sensations: “I try to think just about myself and I still think in some areas it is worse and in some it is better. Overall it is better but we will try to do something with the set-up to improve where it is worse. My Rossa has improved a lot in braking, especially on corner entry. It reminds me a bit of the 2022. The fork? I'm still using the new long one, but in Doha we'll compare it with the other one. For now it's allowing me to brake harder."
The 27-year-old then dedicated a thought to the new tyres introduced by Michelin, the ones that will replace the hard ones. "Definitely a step forward, because the others were unusable, especially when changing direction. Today I struggled a bit on entry, but with the harder compound it's normal."
Widening his gaze to his opponents, Pecco then downplayed what he had seen so far, avoiding the question of whether Martin will be his direct competitor again. "It's difficult to judge during the tests, but overall I found Bastianini, Jorge and Marquez very competitive. KTM and Aprilia weren't bad either. I think the start of the championship will be more competitive than in recent years. Marc, also, has improved a lot in these three days. Before he was just right fast, today he proved to be competitive. He has eight titles under his belt and knows how to adapt. Acosta? He's making excellent progress and the team with him. He is top 6 or 7."
And the two-time world champion said precisely about Pedro: "I didn't see him, but I know that he went wide at the first corner. More than anything else, when I was coming back in I heard the noise. He was certainly deceived by the trajectory. A rookie mistake".
To conclude, a look at the commitment in the coming months. "The goal is always the same. Winning the World Championship and preparing ourselves as best we can to achieve it. The pressure doesn't worry me, in fact it's a stimulus."
