The Chivassese is third in the standings, the title remains within reach “I apologize for the mistakes”. It starts again on August 8th
CHIVASSO
Third place in the overall standings, certainly a position of absolute value for Francesco Pecco Bagnaia, now that the first part of the MotoGp season has ended and the riders can afford a few weeks of rest. The races will resume on August 8: ten races to be held, while nine are already in the archive.
To date, the ruler of the season is Yamaha’s French Fabio Quartararo, who has won four GPs and watches his opponents from the top of his 156 points. Following him are Ducatisti Johann Zarco (122) and Bagnaia (109), the reigning world champion Joan Mir (101) and Pecco’s teammate, Jack Miller, at 100.
All the other rivals are below the “hundred quota” and the discussion for the title seems restricted to this quintet.
Bagnaia has shown, so far, that he is a top driver: he has often been in front of everyone, both in qualifying and in qualifying and also in the general classification. He has above all won, for the moment, the challenge with his teammate Miller, who has more experience in the premier class and has already tasted the flavor of success twice this season.
This is the victory that Bagnaia is missing: three times on the podium, this 2021, but never on the top step. And it would be the victory that could unlock the centaur from Chivasso who has confirmed the qualities of reliability and continuity that have been his figure since he made his debut in the World Championship.
Last Sunday, at the Assen circuit, in the Netherlands, he was second (after winning the first row in practice) but two corners faced too much Garibaldi’s style cost him a penalty that relegated him to the back-up positions and in the end he finished sixth. . It is not the first time this season that he is penalized by regulations that make fans turn up their noses. Norms enacted “for safety”, but which often penalize the courage and the “handle” of the pilots who dare more. «It was perhaps one of the most difficult races of my entire MotoGP career – he said at the end of the race -. I tried in every way to defend myself from Quartararo but, when he passed me, it was clear that I would not be able to stay with him. In the first part of the circuit I was able to recover some ground, but in the last sector I was really losing a lot of respect to him and I also really struggled to fight with Nakagami. In an attempt to defend myself, I went outside the limits of the track on two occasions and I had to serve a long-lap penalty ». A lucid examination seasoned with modesty which, together with reliability and continuity, is another characteristic of Pecco: “I apologize to my team for this mistake, which I could have avoided, but I really did my best to try to bring home the highest number of points “.
In August we start again from the Red Bull Ring, in Austria; a young circuit, which hosts the World Championship for the second time. Last year Bagnaia was forced to watch the race in front of the TV, due to the injury resulting from the fall he had remedied a few weeks earlier in the Czech Republic. It will be the first of ten tests that will constitute, in fact, the “second round” of this season. Quartararo is on the run, but the games are still open and Bagnaia wants, at all costs, to be the protagonist. –
Federico Bona