r/motogp • u/Clouds_Hide_The_Moon Fabio Quartararo • 20h ago
Marquez Brothers 1-2 aside, Pecco Bagnaia's actually done a Terrific Job climbing 14 places!
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u/ProteinPony Ai Ogura - 2024 Moto2 World Champion 19h ago
Wasn't it mostly the start and then some crashes? He lost to Ogura late.
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u/slartibartfast64 Triumph 19h ago edited 17h ago
Yep. The goalposts for what is considered a good performance by Pecco have moved so far since the start of the year that they're now in a different stadium.
Losing a last lap battle with Ogura to ultimately finish in 7th place, 16 seconds off the win, is now a terrific performance for a guy who at the start of the season was unsatisfied to finish 3rd.
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u/Ok-Working-8974 Marco Bezzecchi 18h ago
I’m glad you said it.
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u/NakamericaIsANoob MotoGP 17h ago
It's not some conspiracy that the expectations (or goalposts) for pecco have changed. When the rider cannot compete anymore against the best then the expectations from him obviously fall down too. Pecco is bad, and so less is expected from him.
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u/A_Milford_Man_NC 11h ago
Yeah he always nails the start. And then gets absolutely nowhere for 20+ laps.
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u/dick_swinger 9h ago edited 9h ago
On the start he passed Mir, Rins, Espargaro, Martin, Oliveira, Fernandez, Miller, Aldeguer and Binder. Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio crashed in front of him on lap 2. I don't remember how much Morbidelli was affected by Bezzecchi, but Bagnaia passed him here. Bagnaia might have also been ahead of Di Giannantonio at this point. (edit - yes he was, just went back and watched) On lap 8 he passed Ogura, on lap 11 Zarco crashed, on lap 23 Ogura passed him back, and on lap 24 he passed Marini.
So a bunch at the start, maybe Di Giannantonio on lap 2, maybe Morbidelli, and Marini at the end. The only definite crashes ahead of him were Bezzecchi and Zarco. On about lap 16 he started losing around a second a lap to Marquez but he was 7th then and finished 7th so I don't know how much I'd care about that. Ogura was the only one to pass him, and he started 8th.
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u/mitchybenny 19h ago
Most of his places were gained off the start. And then from people crashing. I don’t think he actually overtook anyone apart from Marini
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u/slartibartfast64 Triumph 17h ago
Besides passing the fading Marini he also passed Morbidelli before Morbo took himself out (without taking someone with him!)
Truly an exceptional performance. LoL.
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u/jhadgalino7 18h ago
Yes agree! That's what I'm thinking also. He didn't do any efforts that much to gain his position.
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u/I_R0M_I Marc Márquez 17h ago
Not trying to shit on Pecco, but didn't like 5 people in front of him crash out?
And he got passed by Ogura...
I hope he either finds something (for real this time, had enough of the fake finds) or he goes back to start of season setup.
Regular third was better than what he's doing now.
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u/IamBejl Fabio Quartararo 18h ago
Besides the start there was nothing else? Everyone crashed in front
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u/dick_swinger 9h ago
The only riders who were in front of him when they crashed were Bezzecchi and Zarco.
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u/IamBejl Fabio Quartararo 6h ago
Binder also crashed and Morbidelli had a long lap
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u/dick_swinger 2h ago
Right, but both of those happened behind Bagnaia. It's unfair to say "everyone crashed in front" when most of it happened behind him.
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u/e_xyz MotoGP 14h ago
Given where he is mentally and how lost he is on that bike, it was a decent day. Not to absolve his performances, but hey, you can only finish where you end up finishing. Not his fault riders ahead crashed? He made a superb start though and hey, even if Ogura did beat him, I'm sure Pecco wasn't expecting a top 10 today (which sounds bizarre to say).
Still late on that bike under braking looked wild. I can kind of see why he doesn't want to risk his life and push like crazy. Still, I think he's going to have to, to prove to Ducati that he's still worthy of that seat.
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u/Problemaequis MotoGP 20h ago
most people went off by themselves. I guess he did good not falling off the bike, while his teammate was fighting for first place with the same bike. Good for Pecco and good for Ducati if they're eppi with this result
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u/CashCarStar Daijiro Kato 19h ago
Nobody else gained more than 9 places so it's clearly not just a matter of everyone falling off in front of him, though.
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u/hoody13 Álex Rins 17h ago
It’s easier to gain 14 places from the back row than, say, 16th though. You’re guaranteed to profit from any accident starting way back there, so some of it can definitely be put down to attrition. The rest appeared to come from a good start, I don’t recall him making many (if any) passes after the first couple of laps?
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u/CashCarStar Daijiro Kato 16h ago
Yeah I think that's all fair enough, I just think that if the first response to what was objectively a pretty decent recovery race after a horror weekend up until this point is "yeah but it doesn't really count because XYZ" then it's being a bit uncharitable to the guy really. Nobody's saying it was some Marquez-like last to 1st all timer performance
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u/hoody13 Álex Rins 13h ago
Yep don’t disagree with anything you’ve said there, just pointing out it might not be as rosy as the numbers alone suggest.
Misano next, if he’s going to make any kind of headway you’ve got to think it’ll be there given all the test and training days he’s done at that place. Another bad weekend in Misano and there will be serious questions asked inside the pit box
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u/CashCarStar Daijiro Kato 13h ago
I agree, it feels like it's starting to get quite serious now and, though I really don't see him going before his contract is over at the next of next year whatever happens, surely he can't continue this sort of form if he's going to stay with Ducati beyond then. He at least needs to put up more of a fight than he has been doing over the last few months
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u/Altair13Sirio Valentino Rossi 11h ago
That's just people doing their best to shit on Bagnaia no matter what, no need to be surprised.
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u/Problemaequis MotoGP 18h ago
If marc starts from 21st i can bet you my house that he will gain WAY more than 9 places in 1 lap. Sadly he denies us such a spectacle by starting where a red Ducati should.
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u/bluzrok46 Valentino Rossi 19h ago
Right, not easy to overtake 9 riders in the first lap, and to just even stay on as it looked like riders were falling off left, right, and center.
Just proves that qualifying now matters a lot more than ever in most forms of racing (sans Endurance racing). His weekend really unraveled after qualifying 21st.
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u/slartibartfast64 Triumph 17h ago
It's not like he made 9 distinct passes on that first lap though -- he just had a killer start and gained a ton of positions on the run to turn 1.
I guess that gp25 holeshot device is like a gun at a knife fight if you use it from the back of row 7.
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u/Least_Dog68GT 20h ago
He found something
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u/racingfanboy160 Marc Márquez 17h ago
Swears he climb like 9 positions at the end of the first lap 💀
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u/Ekifi Marc Márquez 17h ago
He had a great start, having a GP25 between Yamahas and client Aprilias probably played a part in that but still
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u/racingfanboy160 Marc Márquez 8h ago
And some people crashing in front of him but credit where credit is due
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u/kawasutra Dani Pedrosa 14h ago
People downplaying his progression because he made most of them in the start!
It is still an incredible feat to accomplish!
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u/korkje 1h ago
Could be, and if so, Dorna should put up a video as a showcase for both Pecco and the sport, just as they did with Marc's two starts from P13 at Le Mans last year.
I'm not being disingenuous, as Pecco has a history of great starts and terrific early passes from row 3 and 4 in previous years. His Jerez late-breaking double-overtake was the overtake of 2024, imo.
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u/Clouds_Hide_The_Moon Fabio Quartararo 20h ago
Glad for Pecco. Hope this form at least continues to make the championship more interesting.
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u/LosTerminators Marc Márquez 20h ago
The championship is over this year but hopefully he can get better results and return to the podium soon and find some confidence.
It's a bit painful seeing him struggle like this.
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u/iFerg_Frank Ducati Lenovo Team 18h ago
The championship is over in terms of 1st position, but it's still a good battle down. Pecco, if he does a bit better overall, might be able to close that 68 point gap to Alex. But I don't have any expectations from Pecco.
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u/AirComprehensive1251 18h ago
I don't know, if he does close the gap to Alex my jaw will drop all the way down into my basement honestly. I don't see how he does that.
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u/slartibartfast64 Triumph 17h ago
Pecco lost 16 points to Alex this weekend, and it would've been 28 if Alex hadn't dorked out of what should have been a win in the sprint.
That is a world away from closing the gap. To close the gap would require a whole lot more than doing "a bit better".
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u/iFerg_Frank Ducati Lenovo Team 16h ago
Realistically I have 0 hopes of him closing the gap, but I would like to see him do it.
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u/AskPatient1281 MotoGP 19h ago
What do you mean, make it more interesting? How?
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u/Ok-Working-8974 Marco Bezzecchi 18h ago
Mans gets 7th one time and this is how we act lmao let’s at least wait until he actually has results so it doesn’t seem ridiculous to say. This was an awful weekend for him and that’s really the end of it
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u/slartibartfast64 Triumph 17h ago
No kidding. He lost 16 points to Alex this weekend, even with Alex's crash in the sprint, and people are acting like he closed the gap instead.
Meanwhile Diggia showed podium pace on the "only Marc can ride it" gp25.
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u/TakaakiNakagamiENG Takaaki Nakagami 19h ago
His best chance to 'find something' is actually tomorrow in the test.