MotoGP Aragon GP

Studying rookie Martin's data helped Bagnaia to Aragon MotoGP pole

Francesco Bagnaia says studying MotoGP rookie Jorge Martin’s data of how he approached the final corner on Saturday helped him to his record pole lap for the Aragon Grand Prix.

Lewis Duncan

Edited: Sep 12, 2021, 2:40 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

The Ducati rider blitzed the six-year-old Aragon lap record on Saturday to take his second pole of the season by over three tenths of a second to lead teammate Jack Miller in the team’s first 1-2 since Aragon 2018.

Bagnaia admits he “wasn’t expecting” a lap like that and credits it to learning from Pramac rookie Martin’s line through the final corner.

“I think so,” Bagnaia said when asked if he felt it was the perfect lap.

“It was great, already in the first sector compared to my best lap time of 1m46.9s, was already four tenths up.

“So, I did a nice sector one, the sector two was incredible too and our bike in sector four helped us a lot.

“But, also, entry to the last corner was incredible because, just looking at the data of Jorge Martin this morning, who was doing a different line compared to me, and then I tried to do the same and I improved a lot.

“I’m very happy, I was not expecting a lap like this today, also because it’s hotter. But I’m very happy also about the rhythm in FP4.”

Read Also:

Vinales' style "totally wrong" on Aprilia MotoGP bike in qualifying

Bagnaia says he had “a lot of questions” hovering over him coming to Aragon this weekend having endured a woeful double-header at the track last season, in which he qualified 17th and 18th.

But he says his feeling on the bike from FP1 was strong and he has been running his Silverstone settings all weekend.

“Arriving here I had a lot of questions on how to be fast at this track because I struggled a lot in all the years past apart from 2018, when I was fighting for the [Moto2] championship,” he added.

“And when I started in FP1, it was already another story.

“My feeling was improved a lot compared to last year and from Silverstone I didn’t touch anything on the setting, so my bike is the same.

“And I didn’t touch anything during the weekend. So, from the start I was feeling great on the bike and I tried to be more competitive on the riding style.

“I just hope to have a normal situation, because at Silverstone we had a big problem with the rear tyre and it’s something that can happen.

“And I think this time it’s not my turn, so I hope everything will be clear and the same of the weekend.”

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Bagnaia notes that his form this weekend feels like it did at Mugello, where he was strong all weekend and led the race in the early stages before crashing – but was wary about predicting victory having had big results disappear at various points this season.

“This weekend is like Mugello because my feeling is very great, in Mugello I was feeling incredible with the bike,” he said.

“But [there were] more times this year I was competitive, also in Portimao, but every time, I did a mistake, or I had a big problem.

“So, it’s difficult to say that I’m ready to win or that I can win tomorrow. But all the things are there.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Vinales' style "totally wrong" on Aprilia MotoGP bike in qualifying

Next article Quartararo "doesn’t have pace" for Aragon MotoGP podium

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Spire Motorsports suspends Carson Hocevar, parking him for NASCAR finale

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

1 min

Spire Motorsports suspends Carson Hocevar, parking him for NASCAR finale

Lin Hodenius, James Roe partner for Lone Star Racing’s full-time IMSA GTD campaign for 2027

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 21 min

Lin Hodenius, James Roe partner for Lone Star Racing’s full-time IMSA GTD campaign for 2027

Why Oliver Bearman is yet to be announced as a Haas driver for F1 2027

Formula 1

Mexican GP

Why Oliver Bearman is yet to be announced as a Haas driver for F1 2027

Matt Crafton to make surprise NASCAR Truck return this weekend at Homestead

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Homestead

53 min

Matt Crafton to make surprise NASCAR Truck return this weekend at Homestead

Feature

Discover prime content

Why MotoGP's handling of the Qatar Grand Prix could alienate an entire generation of fans

MotoGP

Malaysian GP

By Richard Asher

Why MotoGP's handling of the Qatar Grand Prix could alienate an entire generation of fans

Five things we learned from MotoGP's steamy Malaysian Grand Prix

MotoGP

Malaysian GP

By Richard Asher

Five things we learned from MotoGP's steamy Malaysian Grand Prix

Is MotoGP’s title fight over after the Australian GP swing?

MotoGP

Australian GP

By Rachit Thukral

Is MotoGP’s title fight over after the Australian GP swing?

MotoGP riders could get what they want, and fast, if only they would stand together

MotoGP

Indonesian GP

By Richard Asher

MotoGP riders could get what they want, and fast, if only they would stand together

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts