Francesco Bagnaia scored his second podium of the season at the Portuguese GP held today at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve near Portimão.
The Ducati Lenovo Team rider, forced to start from eleventh on the grid, from the fourth row, after having lost the pole position in qualifying due to a yellow flag infringement, made a remarkable comeback race today. Twelfth on the first lap, Pecco rode at a consistent pace, overtaking his rivals and reaching the leading group with seven laps to go. The Italian rider, having rejoined the fight for the podium, made the decisive attack on Mir, and, with Rins crashing, he took second place, which he held until the finish. Thanks to today’s result, Bagnaia also climbs second in the overall standings, fifteen points behind the new leader Quartararo.
It was an unfortunate race for Jack Miller instead. The Australian, who started from fourth place, was sitting in sixth place in the leading group when a crash during lap six put an early end to his race. After the first three rounds of the 2021 season, Miller occupies the twelfth position in the standings with 14 points. Ducati is second in the constructors’ classification, while the Ducati Lenovo Team is third in the teams’ standings.
Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 2nd
“I’m delighted with the result in today’s race! As I was starting eleventh, my goal was to finish in the top five, but instead, I managed to get on the podium! Moreover, this was a track where I struggled a lot last season, but this year, my feeling with the bike was incredible and allowed me to make this great comeback. In the last laps, I was suffering a lot, but in the end, I was able to defend second place from Mir’s attacks, and now we are also second in the Championship. I want to thank my team for the great work we have done together this weekend! Now we’ll go to Jerez, another track that I really like.”
Jack Miller (#43 Ducati Lenovo Team) – DNF
“Definitely, this is not the way we had hoped to end the weekend. I felt strong today, and after a good start, I knew I had to start pushing. Unfortunately, I got very close to Aleix Espargaro and braked late, asking too much of the front tyre. The crash was completely my fault. The last three weekends have been quite difficult, but I have been through much more complicated times in my career. Now, we have to keep doing our job well, trying to stay focused to get better results already in the next race.”
The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back on track in two weeks, from 30th April to 2nd May 2021, for the Spanish GP to be held at the Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto in Andalusia.
