until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Factory Ducati rider Pecco Bagnaia says this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao is perhaps the most important weekend of the year for him and his team, as he finally attempts to assess the level of the Italian factory’s 2022 Desmosedici after a rocky start to the season so far for not just him but the other four riders on GP22s.
Bagnaia, who won four of the final six races of 2021, including at Portimao, has scored 12 points from four races in ’22 so far. That’s something he has largely pinned on too much time having been spent testing parts rather than developing a base setting, before a series of unusual races in Indonesia and Argentina left his side of the garage even further behind than anticipated.
A relatively straightforward weekend at the Circuit of the Americas has left Bagnaia hoping it will translate into more consistency and a step closer to fighting at the very front again, even if it’s not quite the full step he needs to win just yet.
“I just want to work like I did in Austin,” he said of his plans for Portugal. “We have worked so well, we have worked like we were working last year, and my feeling was good. So, I hope to think again like last week. I just want to continue gaining feeling with my bike and see what will happen, see if we can reach a better result than the last two races or the same, but I want to continue our progression to find back the feeling.
“Austin, first of all, was a normal weekend, we started like always, using Friday to improve my feeling, and like this is for sure helpful for me. Because normally I need maybe one session more [than others] to work, to arrive, it’s something that I work on and is something that I appreciate when I have it.
“In any case this track [Portimao] is good for me, it’s good for Ducati, I really like it and last year was good for us, so let’s see what we can do this weekend.”
While he might be closer to once again finding the magical missing feeling of 2021 that led him to a comfortable race win at the Algarve track only four months ago, it’s unlikely that he’s set to make a miraculous breakthrough that launches him directly back into the title-fighting contention just yet.
That’s because there are still some lingering issues to clear, something that he’s not afraid to admit – even if he doesn’t yet know how to solve them.
“For sure Austin helped us a lot,” he admitted, “to think on our bike and to think on me. It’s still clear that I’m still missing something on the braking and in the entry.
“Austin – just in the race, because in practice I was fast and strong in that point – I was still missing something. I think this race can be the good one to understand our level of this year, in this moment, because last year we raced twice here, the asphalt is the same, the bumps will be the same… I think it could be a good test for us.”
However, while he’s keen to use this weekend to assess the level of this year’s bike against both last year’s and their current opposition, team-mate Jack Miller was somewhat prickly when questioned about whether or not he needs to do the same this weekend.
Not quite in the same boat as Bagnaia and arguably a little ahead of his teammate after scoring his first podium of the year at the Grand Prix of the Americas, he was unequivocal about what his goals are when track action kicks off with Friday’s free practice sessions.
“At the end of the day, my bike is working well,” the Australian insisted, “and there’s no chance to change back [to the GP21] so I don’t even know what the point in assessing it is. We’ve got a fantastic package, and that’s all. All I’m here to do is ride the bike to the best of my abilities, and extract the most I can out of it.
“I’m not here to confirm or deny if one bike is better or worse than the other, I’m here to race it.”
