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On the night when Los Angeles celebrates Christopher Nolan with the film Oppenheimer, in Losail Pecco Bagnaia makes his Ducati shine under the desert lights. If an answer was needed after Saturday's fourth place in the Sprint Race, the defending champion sent a clear signal, dominating the Qatar GP from the first to the last lap.
It was a masterful performance by Pecco, capable of breaking the lingers at the start, attacking, taking the first position and never letting it slip away again. In some ways it seemed to see again a certain Jorge Lorenzo in what was his race conduct.
It is a fact that Bagnaia proved to be a certainty in Losail, going beyond any questioning, on all the consumption of the tires. More than a race, Pecco's was a kind of qualification with no less than 10 laps under the 1'53" wall. He achieved his fastest lap on the ninth lap in 1'52"667, but what was surprising was that 1'52"893 on the third-to-last lap.
Looking at Pecco's pace, the Piedmontese's difference emerged especially from the fourth to the fourteenth lap, where Bagnaia never went above the wall of 1'53" except on only two occasions.
So hats off to what the reigning world champion did, who in Losail reaffirmed that he is still the man to beat.
Remaining on the subject of Ducati, one of the riders arousing interest was definitely Marc Marquez, in his first with Gresini's Rossa. Two things impressed us about Marc: first, never ending up on the ground once over the entire weekend, and second, his solid and consistent pace with a bike yet to be discovered.
In Sunday's race, the 93 showed a pace between 1'52" high and 1'53" low with his personal fastest lap on the seventh pass in 1'52"773. If Pecco was the talk of the town from the 4th to the 14th pass, Marc is and dropped below the 1'53" wall on only two occasions. Obviously there are some aspects to point out including the fact that Pecco was in front solo while 93 first found himself dueling with Acosta later he was the victim of a long run after being taken off line by Martin.
What was surprising about Marc was the pace in the finale with two passes under the 1'53" wall on the last five laps. Probably 93 did not want to push harder than he had to because perhaps he did not trust or feared tire degradation. Recall that this was his first race riding the Ducati. He probably preferred to take the measures, avoiding throwing his heart over the hurdle.
The fact remains that his was a solid race, in which he had all the cards in our opinion to take the GP23 to the podium. To start the World Championship with a top3 would have been a great thing, but maybe that was good enough for today. The Championship is just beginning and the numbers say that soon MagicMarc will be in the game as well.
