I messed up, like yesterday": Pecco Bagnaia stumbles again at Buriram

Pecco Bagnaia files away a Sprint that doesn’t satisfy him. Focus now on tomorrow’s full race at Buriram.

After the Sepang and Buriram tests, expectations were very different. Pecco Bagnaia, however, didn’t shine yesterday, staying out of the top 10 for Q2, and today he went through another ordeal, especially in qualifying, followed by a small recovery in the Sprint. While his garage mate Marc Marquez put on a show fighting for the win (with subsequent controversy), the two-time MotoGP champion from Piedmont started from 13th and then grabbed the final point. What’s going on with the Ducati rider? Tomorrow will be a chance for redemption with the 26-lap race; more generally, the hope is that this is just a passing difficulty. Another season like 2025 would be counterproductive for him, as well as for Ducati and for Aprilia, which appears to be his next destination...

"I messed up, same as yesterday". Pecco Bagnaia tries to lighten the mood with a strained smile after two particularly tough days so far at Buriram. He then explains the issue: "I’m struggling to rediscover the feeling from the tests, unfortunately." Why is that? "Maybe the conditions have changed a bit," he continued to motogp.com microphones at the end of the Sprint. "There’s less grip and it’s harder to be consistent, unlike what I managed during testing." But he doesn’t look for excuses; he simply accepts the blame: "I also made mistakes in qualifying; they’re my errors. I need to adapt better to this bike; it seems to have great potential, but I’m struggling. I need time." Could a little more arrive as soon as tomorrow, maybe using the warm-up to find some solutions? It won’t be easy on the Thai track, but the road to redemption after a season to forget has to start as soon as possible. As mentioned, it also matters for his own future, wherever he goes.