Misano MotoGP: Perfect Pecco has a knife to Quartararo’s throat
MotoGP
On Sunday, Pecco Bagnaia did what no Ducati rider has ever done, win four MotoGP races on the trot, piling the pain on points leader Fabio Quartararo and surpassing third title-hopeful Aleix Espargaró
Pecco Bagnaia was perfect at Misano and he definitely has the championship momentum now
“I had the knife here,” said a weary-looking Fabio Quartararo outside Yamaha’s Misano garage on Sunday afternoon. The man who has led the 2022 MotoGP championship since April’s Portuguese GP had his fingers jabbed into his throat, miming a knife ready to commit the coup de grace.
Two weeks earlier at Red Bull Ring the Frenchman had ridden his under-powered Yamaha YZR-M1 to a remarkable second place, but this time, around a tighter, slower racetrack, he could work no magic, instead slumping home fifth, five seconds down on winner Pecco Bagnaia, an eon in modern-day MotoGP.
Those who like to mix their metaphors suggested that Quartararo brought a knife to a gunfight at Misano and there’s no doubt he is increasingly out-gunned. Four races ago he enjoyed a 91-point advantage over Bagnaia, now that lead is down to 31 points, with six races remaining. If his Ducati rival continues hacking chunks out of the reigning champ’s lead at the current rate, Bagnaia will take the series lead at the next but one race, in Japan later this month.
The Misano race, like this year’s championship, was a slow-burner, with the usual lack of overtaking at the front, but by mid-race it was obvious what was going to happen. Enea Bastianini, only recently announced as Ducati’s latest factory rider, was coming for Bagnaia, his 2023 team-mate. Because as all racers know the first rider you must beat is your team-mate – it’s all about marking territory in the garage.
And Bastianini’s renowned ability to save his tyres for the final push would surely make the difference.
The San Marino GP was the real home race of both Ducati and Aprilia – the Italian V4s designed and built in nearby Bologna and Noale – and the race was all about them, no one else.
Bastianini, Bagnaia and Viñales battling for second, moments before Jack Miller turned this showdown into a victory fight
Dorna
At the end of the first lap it was five Ducatis and two Aprilias in the top seven, then very soon it was three Ducatis and two Aprilias, as pole-sitter Jack Miller and stellar rookie Marco Bezzecchi slid off on lap two. Like everyone else, the pair had chosen Michelin’s medium rear slick, which took a while to come in.
Miller’s demise promoted Bastianini – wearing retro 1980s livery in honour of his Gresini team’s late owner Fausto Gresini — into first place, but the youngster was also skating on thin ice.
“It was difficult at the start because my feeling with the bike was so strange and it was difficult to put temperature in the tyres,” said Bastianini, who wanted to race the soft rear tyre but switched to the medium at the last moment on the grid, because race day was hotter than Friday and Saturday. That put all the front runners on the same hard/medium combination.
Miller’s downfall, just metres ahead, was a big warning to Bastianini, who was happy to have Bagnaia and Aprilia’s Maverick Viñales come past on the next lap because the heat from their bikes brought his tyres up to temperature.
“After they came past it was better for me, so I could push and go with them,” he said.
For a while it looked like Viñales, who made his Aprilia race debut a year ago at Misano, might take his first victory for the factory. He spent two thirds of the race right behind Bagnaia, always looking for a way past. His team were sure he had what it took to snatch the lead in the early stages, but Bagnaia was too perfect, then Viñales started making mistakes – running wide into corners, losing valuable overtaking opportunities.
Perhaps he was having problems with front-tyre temperature and pressure while riding in the boiling wake of Bagnaia’s Desmosedici? No, said Viñales later. There may be truth in this, because Michelin’s harder front tyres are less likely to balloon under pressure than the softer variants.
Trouble ahead. Quartararo on the grid – he already knows he’s going to struggle to fight with the Italian V4s.
Dorna
Whatever, Viñales didn’t have the grip to stay with the big red Duke and with one-third distance to go he dropped off the pace, Bastianini went past and for the last third of the 27 laps it was Ducati on Ducati.
Both riders know Misano better than anyone else. Bastianini was born and bred a few minutes from the track, while VR46 rider Bagnaia lives not far away. Both regularly ride around the seaside circuit aboard slick-equipped Panigale V4S superbikes, so they know every bump and every ripple. This helped put them in a class of their own.
“All the race I felt someone was with me,” said Bagnaia. “So I was just thinking, trying to be smart, trying to be very constant with the pace and closing the lines, especially in the last part of the race, because I thought it was possible for Enea to overtake.”
If Bastianini tangled with Bagnaia, he might find his GP23 mysteriously under-powered.
Could Bagnaia deal with Bastianini’s late-race strength, which comes from his ability to make his speed with the front tyre, allowing him to baby the rear tyre? And would Bagnaia be perfect Pecco or imperfect Pecco, the man who had crashed out of three of four races in May and June?
No one knew, including Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi, who really should have been wearing a heart monitor again, for our entertainment.
Pecco Bagnaia scored his third consecutive victory on Sunday, chased by miracle-maker Fabio Quartararo, while third title contender Aleix Espargaró struggled
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Lap by lap, the tension grew. As the pair started the final lap Bastianini was obviously closing for the kill, just 0.101 seconds behind. No doubt about it, he was going to try slinging his Desmosedici past Bagnaia. After all, there could be no better way to rattle his 2023 team-mate.
On the other hand, it wasn’t that simple. Bastianini knew Bagnaia is chasing Ducati’s first MotoGP title in 15 years. If he slung his bike past his fellow Italian and the two tangled and ended up on the ground he might find his GP23 mysteriously under-powered.
And that’s very nearly what happened when the pair attacked Turn 4, where Miller had fallen. Bastianini knew this corner was one of his last overtaking chances, but although Bagnaia seemed to brake a little earlier than usual there was no room. That surprise brought Bastianini’s GP21 came within centimetres of smacking into the factory GP22. He locking his rear tyre as he desperately tried to scrub off speed, which had his bike dancing this way and that.
The impressive Luca Marini equalled his best MotoGP result with fourth, ahead of title challengers Quartararo and Espargaró.
VR46
Tardozzi must’ve been close to peak bpm at that point, but when someone asked Bastianini if he had been out of control he replied somewhat sharply, “I know what I can do”.
However, he had lost a few vital metres at a crucial point of the track, because he was faster through Turn 6 before the curving straight to Turn 8, Misano’s favourite overtaking point. Perhaps if Turn 4 hadn’t happened, Turn 8 would have, but we’ll never know.
Just one real chance left, at the Turn 14 hairpin, three corners from the chequered flag. Once again Bagnaia had it covered and that seemed like game over.
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Bagnaia had changed his riding style for the last lap because he had already used up his rear tyre’s drive grip, the part of the tyre that can accept the engine’s full torque and fire you down the next straight like a bullet from a gun. His lack of drive grip was very nearly his downfall exiting at the final corner.
Meanwhile Bastianini – the saviour of rear tyres – rode his fastest lap on that last lap. Bagnaia swept through the final corner using all the corner speed he could muster, but this ran him wide and up onto the kerb, where he couldn’t unleash full power.
At the same time Bastianini got his bike turned faster, so he could pick it up onto the fatter part of the tyre and unleash more torque. He used all his body strength to swerve inside Bagnaia out of the corner, his year-old Desmosedici obviously accelerating faster than the brand-new factory version as the pair raced towards the chequered flag.
Finally they were side by side, but Bagnaia took his sixth victory of the year by half a bike length, or 0.034 seconds, for MotoGP’s closest finish since Álex Rins got Marc Márquez at the final corner at Silverstone in August 2019
Bastianini’s GP21 paid tribute to Fausto Gresini’s Garelli 125 twin, winner of the 1985 and 1987 125cc world championships
Gresini
“On the last lap I tried to use more corner speed because I was without rear tyre, so I was a bit wide at the last corner,” explained Bagnaia. “Enea had really great pick-up, so he was able to put more power to the ground. I used that line because I thought that if I used my normal line I would’ve lost the race [because he had no drive grip left].”
Bagnaia has won back 50 points on Quartararo in four races, at the same time taking second place from Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaró, who finished sixth, some way behind Quartararo, who isn’t looking forward to the next races and whose only hope of holding the Ducati steamroller at bay seems to be a miracle.
“We didn’t have any problems and that’s the thing,” said Quartararo. “I was on the limit – any more and I would’ve been on the floor. I had a good pace but to overtake or to ride the same way as the others was impossible. The next race at Aragon [with its super-long main straight] will be tough. Then Japan, Thailand and Australia. We haven’t been to those tracks for a long time, so hopefully we get a great surprise there. I wouldn’t say I’m worried but I’m not calm…”
Espargaró’s second sixth place in a row seemed to suggest Aprilia’s title challenge has faded, but the Spanish veteran doesn’t agree. Instead he exudes optimism.
“I said at the start of the year that America, Austria and Misano would be very difficult races,” he said. “America was a disaster, but we got sixth in Austria and here. After Assen I was 32 points off the lead, now I’m 33 points, so it’s not bad and we have to be positive.
Pole-sitter Jack Miller had the speed, but he pushed too soon with the medium rear tyre and fell
Ducati
“Here my riding style doesn’t help. There are some benefits to sitting more in the middle of the bike, so I can have a lot of weight in the right place going into fast corners, but I don’t move my body so much, so I’m not quick enough in the changes of direction, so I can’t move the weight of the bike like Maverick. It’s not the bike, it’s me that has to improve.”
“Anyway, I’m super-happy to get sixth at the last two races – in the past when I finished sixth we had a party in Aprilia!
“Now we go to circuits where I had a really good feeling with the bike in the past, so I’m going to make a big, big, big effort and I can’t wait for what’s going to be a really nice part of the championship.”
Thirty-three points now separate the top three – Quartararo on 211, Bagnaia on 181, Espargaró on 178 – with Aragon, Motegi, Buriram, Sepang and Valencia to go.
Bagnaia, of course, says he’s not thinking about the championship, because that only distracts you.
“I’m focusing race by race,” he said. “The team is doing a great job – now we are very consistent and this is a big change since the start of the season.”
He’s not wrong. Bagnaia has scored more points in the last four races than he did at the first ten, which should have Quartararo and Espargaró very worried indeed.
