Reigning MotoGP world champion Pecco Bagnaia says that ‘fantastic painkillers’ are the reason why he was able to rather unexpectedly top the opening day of action at Misano, only days after he was involved in a high-speed crash with Alex Marquez that left him trapped under his bike at the Aragon Grand Prix.
Bagnaia went into this weekend’s San Marino GP unsure of what to expect, complaining on Thursday about neck and shoulder pain resulting from the crash only five days ago - and admitted that he struggled in the morning’s opening session at the Italian circuit.
However, able to medicate for the all-important second session of the day that determines who progresses directly to Q2 tomorrow, the factory Ducati rider never looked to be in trouble as he powered to first place by two tenths of a second ahead of Aragon race winner Marc Marquez and his main title rival Jorge Martin.
“The painkillers are fantastic!” Bagnaia joked afterwards. “It’s much better. This morning I was a bit scared because my feeling was not the best. I was feeling a lot of pain - shoulder, ribs.
“But we planned to take some painkillers this afternoon and apart from the first two or three laps when I needed to warm up a bit, everything went better.
“Not 100% but I was able to be focused on riding and understanding the set-up.”
And with that tough unmedicated first session out of the way, he says that being able to top the afternoon means that the rest of the weekend can only get easier as his physical condition improves.
“A lot. A lot,” he insisted when asked how much confidence he took from the result. “Because this morning was tricky. It was very difficult.
“I was trying to do a good job but every change of direction was like a knife. It was not the best feeling. But the luck is that we’re in Misano, which is a track that I know perfectly.
“Then being able to be focused on riding makes a lot of difference, so it’s giving me a lot of confidence. The objective today was to finish in the top 10. We finished first and the time attack went well. The pace was fantastic and I’m very happy.
“I think was the worst day, the first one. Now I know what I need and with my physio I will go to work. We know what to do.
“It will be better tomorrow and even better Sunday, because there was nothing broken and day by day it will get better.
“I will get painkillers for Sunday, absolutely, I need them. Nothing too strong!
And while the crash last weekend at Motorland Aragon might mean he has conceded the title lead to Martin, a double-header of races at Misano still means that, physical limitations or not, Bagnaia has an important chance to close him down again at a circuit he knows inside out.
With the Misano track located only a few minutes’ drive from Bagnaia’s current home in Tavullia and a key training component for Valentino Rossi’s academy project, Bagnaia is intimately familiar with the circuit - so much so, says former Ducati team-mate Jack Miller, that it’s embarrassing for the rest to see what he can do around it.
“Like always here,” the Australian joked, “him and that third sector, down the back straight. I’ve seen the data, and it’s rather embarrassing when you do an overlay and see how much speed he can carry through Turn 11.”
