Francesco Bagnaia scored a fantastic second place behind Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing Team) in a nail-biting finish to an incredible Thailand Grand Prix at the Chang International Circuit. With this weekend’s results, Bagnaia now takes a 13-point lead to Malaysia, with three rounds remaining. Bagnaia’s podium today was also the 250th podium finish in MotoGP for Ducati.
Bagnaia, starting sixth on the grid on row 3, got away well and was part of the furious battle raging in the early laps as six riders – Espargarò (Aprilia), Marini (VR46 Racing Team), Binder, Marquez (Gresini Racing), Bagnaia and Marquez (Honda) – all closely tailed Martin, who had grabbed the lead from the start.
With seven laps remaining, the battle for the win was between Martin, Binder and Bagnaia, and despite Pecco’s die-hard attack on the penultimate lap to pass both men on the outside going into the penultimate curve, before going slightly wide, the order remained that way until the chequered flag. Bagnaia was then promoted post-race to second and Binder was demoted to third as the South African was penalized for exceeding track limits on the last lap.
Enea Bastianini finished in thirteenth place after starting from 21st on the grid.
Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 2nd
“At the start I was happy to get away well and I was in the front, then the battle commenced. It was very easy to get stuck behind and that was the last thing I wanted to do. We managed to do a really good job this weekend in terms of speed, and we demonstrated that we were very competitive today. On the last lap I needed to push very hard on the rear tyre, I didn’t have this advantage for the battle, but it was normal fighting against other riders like this. Malaysia is another great track for me, so I need to keep going just like we are doing, improving the qualifying to be in the front. We have recovered our feeling again this weekend, the pace was here, and we were very fast. We’ll see, the battle will be intense until the last.”
Enea Bastianini (#23 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 13th
“It wasn’t an easy weekend, but today I managed to give a lot of information to the team, and I think I understood the bike better and what it takes to go faster. I think one of the things that slowed me down today was overtaking because I wasn’t able to pass because I couldn’t push the bike. When I was on my own, I was fast, and I changed my riding style a little to meet the needs of the bike and it worked. We take the positive from this weekend with the aim to be more competitive in Malaysia.”
After a break of one week, the next round of the MotoGP World Championship – the Grand Prix of Malaysia, the first of the concluding triple-header – will be held in a fortnights’ time at the Sepang International Circuit from 10-12 November.
