Francesco Bagnaia had to settle for just two crucial points from the Mandalika Sprint race after launching a tough fight from tenth on the grid. The Ducati factory rider openly admitted that his rise to eighth place was not a result of raw pace, but rather a byproduct of a double crash involving two riders at Turn 1.
The main obstacle hindering the Italian rider's progress lay in his inability to generate enough energy into the rear tire during the opening stages of the race. This tire temperature issue caused him to lose a lot of valuable time before the compound finally reached its optimal working range.
“From tenth to eighth? Yes, but two guys crashed, that's why I finished eighth,” Bagnaia told Sky Sport MotoGP. “I can't put enough energy into the rear tire in the opening laps, it's my mistake. So I lose a lot of time before it reaches temperature: today it took me seven laps.”
Although he struggled in the first half of the race, Bagnaia noted that his pace improved significantly once the rear tire found its proper operating temperature. However, he acknowledged that the pace was still far from enough to fight for the win at the Mandalika circuit.
“From the moment it got to temperature the pace wasn't bad, even if obviously it wasn't a pace to win,” he added, explaining that low grip is the root cause preventing him from putting energy into the tires quickly.
Meanwhile, the Sprint victory went to his teammate, Marc Marquez, who now leads the Riders' World Championship standings. Winning at a track previously predicted to favor rival manufacturers prompted Bagnaia to offer high praise to the Spanish rider.
“Marc always manages to make the difference,” Bagnaia praised, appreciating how his teammate managed to compensate for bike weaknesses in sector two by excelling fiercely in sectors three and four ahead of tomorrow's Grand Prix.
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