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Pecco Bagnaia is smiling, more than one might expect after picking up 4 tenths of a second from his rival Martin. On Friday in Austin, the Spaniard of the Pramac team made the difference on the flying lap, but the world champion is nonetheless satisfied with his 4th quickest time at the end of a hard day's work.
"I think it's my best Friday so far, also from a long time last year, so I'm happy ," he began, "It had been a while since I was able to feel so good on the first day, in Portimao I struggled. Here, however, I felt good right away and improved a lot in the afternoon using a setup similar to last year's - I'm satisfied. We did a different strategy to the others with more laps on the medium tire, but we also saw that the soft has more potential."
As he often does, Pecco focused mainly on the work ahead of the race, dedicating to the flying lap only the last minutes of the session that decided direct entry into Q2.
“For sure Jorge did a really good lap time, like Maverick, but let’s see. Tomorrow will be different. I’m happy, but we also saw that the soft was with a good potential, so tomorrow we will do more laps on the soft to decide on the race tyre.” he explained.
The fact remains that Martin took half a second off the previous circuit record, which belonged to Bagnaia himself. The question is whether he can do better tomorrow.
"I think I can beat it, we'll see tomorrow - the Chivasso rider said he was confident - I am happy with my one lap, but it was nothing special, nothing incredible. In the first exit I was using the soft tire for the first time and I didn't do a good lap, so it was important to finish second. I kept a little margin, it was right not to take too many risks since I was out of Q2 at that time."
Tomorrow will be a different story.
"The track is better in certain places, but the new asphalt is too new and not clean. When you get there you feel you can push, but then the bike starts to move and the front to lock up. I think I can improve, I think for pole we could go under 2'01" and that would be an incredible time, but in the race we should manage more," was his prediction.
As for his rivals for the race, Pecco has a few certainties, but not too many.
"This morning the strongest was Bastinini, while in the afternoon it was more difficult to understand the levels in the field. For sure Martin and Vinales had a good lap, but on the pace Maverick was faster. I focused a lot on myself and I know where I can still improve," he concluded.
