MotoGP

MotoGP's two bewildering Barcelona practice crashes explained

by Megan White
3 min read

Two bizarre MotoGP crashes took place on the opening day in Barcelona, with the two Tech3 riders tangling before title contender Pecco Bagnaia crashed after the chequered flag in FP1.

Factory Ducati rider Bagnaia went down in the braking zone at Turn 1 after the session had ended as Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales overtook him at speed after his practice start.

Vinales cut around the outside of Bagnaia into the corner, forcing the Ducati rider to brake and tumble off - prompting anger in the moment from both Bagnaia and the Ducati garage.

Speaking on Friday afternoon, Bagnaia admitted he slowed too much on the approach to the corner, but said Vinales was arriving at “enormous speed” and scared Bagnaia by popping up in front of him.

“This morning was… I missed the start, because my rear tyre spun, and then I just… we are on the limit with the engine so I didn’t want to push on that, because you never know,” he said. “So my mistake I think was to slow down that much, but honestly when you are arriving that fast you are on the inside, and it was full of space on the inside.

“I started to hear him and thought he would go from the inside, but as soon as I saw him arriving at enormous speed from the outside on the kerb with the back moving and I got scared and I lost the front wheel like this.”

Pecco Bagnaia's crashed bike at Turn 1

Vinales agreed that Bagnaia was going “very slow” and claimed to have left “plenty of room” on the straight, adding that “sometimes things happen like that".

“For me it’s not from who is at fault,” he said. “At the end, the practice start is to practice the start, so you arrive to the first corner trying to disengage [the right height device] so you brake late.

“I saw Pecco was in the middle very slow, I don’t know why, and I tried to avoid him. I went to the outside and I left two bikes, I didn’t even pass close. When I saw the crash, I said maybe I touched him, I don’t know.

“But then I saw the replay and there was plenty of room. I think he got maybe scared or something and he grabbed the front brake and whoom and locked the front tyre. It was crazy.

“To be honest, this is for me this is an incident, sometimes things happen like that. I think if you asked me, for me after this it’s already passed.”

As to Bagnaia's suggestion, he expected Vinales to go down the inside, but Vinales indicated he didn't feel that was possible.

Earlier in the session, the two Tech3 riders came together in a bizarre incident at Turn 5 which prompted a red flag.

Departing rider Augusto Fernandez passed Pedro Acosta around the outside unsighted, with the two colliding and bursting the air fence.

Fernandez said the incident was “strange” and, paired with his crash in FP2, said it was a “tough day” as he marked his final Friday on the KTM.

“Yeah, it was strange,” he said. “I was on the outside and suddenly crashing. It was a scary one, but in the end, I was speaking with Pedro and he is all okay.

“I didn’t see him picking up, he didn’t see me, I was on the outside. Normal incident but not the ideal way to start the weekend. For me, because I also crashed in the afternoon, it’s been a tough day.

“Didn’t feel good on the bike, same bike as I had in Sepang but here it’s not feeling good.”

He also said that he wasn't trying to overtake Acosta.

Acosta, meanwhile, brushed off the crash completely: “Everything that can happen in one situation like this happened today.

“Let’s forget - both we are okay, was not the fault from anyone. It was a combination of factors for this. Forgot it. S*** happens.”

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • More Networks