Ducati MotoGP rider Francesco Bagnaia believes there has to be “something not working” that can explain his “not acceptable” Motegi qualifying result.
Bagnaia finished 12th in the second qualifying segment in the wet, ending a sequence of 10 successive races of qualifying in the top five.
He was behind both of his main title rivals Fabio Quartararo (in ninth) and Aleix Espargaro (sixth), and was 2.159s off pole and a second off 10th-placed Luca Marini.
That, plus his run to 15th in the wet Saturday morning practice, suggests he was deeply fortunate that Friday’s sole practice session happened on a dry track, as that allowed him to comfortably secure an automatic place in Q2.
“Normally I’m good on wet. It’s strange to be last,” he said.
“And the only good thing was to be already [in Q2].
“With my laptime I think I was last today. The only good thing was already to be in the top 10 yesterday.”
Bagnaia said he was also bewildered to have gone over six tenths slower in Q2 than in practice despite what he perceived as better track conditions.
Yet he acknowledged that there has been a trend of wet-weather underperformance in his 2022 campaign, having finished 15th in the sole wet race of the campaign so far at Mandalika.
“Sincerely, I haven’t checked anything, it’s too close to qualifying – I have to see and check the data. I think that something is not working, sincerely,” said Bagnaia, having swapped from one bike to another during qualifying.
“Because last year I was always competitive on wet and this year, no, I’m always struggling.
“The only time we raced on wet was in Indonesia, I finished 15th. And then all the practice on wet I was struggling. So maybe on this moment, with this bike, I’m not on my best moment on wet.
“But we have to check the data. I know that for sure something happened, because it’s not possible to take two seconds [to the leader]. I was slower than this morning, in a better situation in better conditions.
“In this moment, this result is not acceptable – and I want to discover why.”
That it is not a wider Ducati issue was made evident by the fact that each of Bagnaia’s seven Ducati peers went quicker across Q1 and Q2.
Bagnaia cited credible showings in wet practice sessions at Misano and Valencia in 2021 as evidence he didn’t have an underlying problem in the rain, and when asked about his Moto2 record, cited the 2017 race at none other than Motegi in which he went from 12th on the grid to fourth.
The Ducati man has reeled off four wins and a second place in the last five races, and – with Sunday’s race expected to be dry – believes he may be able to continue this streak.
“My target will be to win tomorrow,” he said when asked whether he would prioritise finishing above points leader Quartararo. “Then… the only thing that will be important will be to recover points. But my main objective is not Fabio, my main objective is to be in front [of the pack] and to try to win.
“I think considering yesterday that my pace on dry was very good, very constant, also with used tyres, so… I’m sure that our level and our performance is high, but it’s difficult to know now, because today we were just on wet.
“And in case it will be wet it will be a different story for me.”
He did also say: “But if it’s wet, I will try to do my best, I will try to finish in front, because I know our level is so much higher than this.”
