Pecco Bagnaia scare: "The situation was really critical"

The MotoGP World Championship has returned to Brazil, but the arrival at the Goiania circuit was not a happy one. The Ayrton Senna track greeted the riders with a major scare: a violent flood that submerged part of the circuit. Among the first to sound the alarm was Pecco Bagnaia.

The Piedmontese Ducati rider didn’t mince words in describing what he found upon entering the pit lane. Although the rain has eased in recent hours, the risk of new storms is real, and there’s concern they could spoil the MotoGP weekend. "The track is really beautiful," said Pecco Bagnaia. Technical corners alternate with fast bends, but what happened on Tuesday has the MotoGP paddock on edge.

Torrential rains flooded several areas of the circuit, with rescue teams forced to work at a frantic pace to make the roads passable. The Ducati standard-bearer is certain the bad weather isn’t over yet. "We hope it doesn’t rain anymore, because if it does, conditions would be treacherous. Especially before the last two corners, because it tends to flood, and on Tuesday the situation was very critical."

Despite the initial scare, the riders found a completely new asphalt surface that would make other MotoGP circuits envious. Bagnaia said he was surprised by the track’s smoothness, a key element for going fast with these bikes. "I think at the beginning it will be very difficult to think about grip. We’ll see, the asphalt is really like a billiard table, it’s perfect."

However, the flooding left behind dirt and debris that could cause some issues in the first laps on Friday. "It’s a bit dirty, but I think the grip will be quite good," Bagnaia continued. "The important thing will be to do a lot of laps to understand what to do on the bike," so as to rubber in the track and gain more traction.

Another hot topic this weekend is the tires. Michelin has brought the hardest rear tire to Brazil, the same one that gave Bagnaia plenty of headaches at the recent Thai GP. It’s a tire that apparently neither Ducati nor Pecco like, and it forces him to change his riding style.

In the Ducati garage they are analyzing the data to make sure the tire doesn’t cause further problems. "Ducati worked hard to understand what happened with rear tire wear at the last GP because we struggled a lot in that area," concluded Pecco Bagnaia. The short circuit will also be a mental challenge for all MotoGP riders. "I prefer a long circuit with fewer laps to a short one with more laps. Thirty-one laps in a race is a lot, an awful lot... You get into a vicious circle where you shouldn’t think about the laps, only about riding. The total time is the same, but for us it changes quite a bit. It’s not boring, but it feels like more time goes by."