Bagnaia–Ducati at risk of tension: "We know the problem well"

Tension in the Ducati garage after the MotoGP race at Le Mans. Pecco Bagnaia collects his third DNF of the season in five Grands Prix, but this time the feeling on the GP26 was good and there’s a sense of a big opportunity slipping away. He had the pace to win, or at least to finish on the podium, but a technical problem shattered any hope.

The two-time MotoGP champion seemed back to his old levels, when he was always at the front with the Red machine. The Desmosedici’s braking system let him down, perhaps due to a human error in the garage. His reaction after hitting the French asphalt, seven laps from the end, immediately went viral. The rider from Chivasso kicked everything in his path as he headed toward the garage, from the marshals’ foam barriers to a traffic cone.

The two-time champion’s frustration was evident, and his subsequent explanations leave no room for doubt: something didn’t work with his Ducati. According to the rider, it’s a defect he already knows, because it’s exactly the same one he encountered recently at Jerez. Although he didn’t want to point the finger directly at any member of the staff, to avoid getting his team in trouble, it seems clear that it’s a mechanical braking issue. "The same thing as Jerez happened, but this time I didn’t want to give up and I crashed," Bagnaia summed up.

The MotoGP weekend looked very promising for Pecco, who started from pole position and finished second in the Sprint. "I thought I could catch Marco, but seven laps from the end I started to lose confidence and I was limited by a small issue with the bike that slowed me down... We know exactly what happened and the team is already working to fix the problem."

Marc Marquez, his teammate, will not be at Montmelò as he deals with the aftermath of a double surgery. "I hope he comes back soon... Congratulations also to Aprilia, because they gave Jorge incredible support throughout last year," Pecco Bagnaia concluded. The announcement of his signing with Aprilia should arrive around the Italian Grand Prix, and from then on the “separation” period within Ducati will officially begin.

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