The Ducati Lenovo team arrives in Portugal for the first European round of the 2022 MotoGP season and Francesco Bagnaia is under high pressure…
In fact, after a disappointing start to the season, the 25-year-old from Turin returns to the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, near Portimão, a circuit on which he performed very well during the two rounds completed there last year.
The official Ducati qualified 11th at the Portuguese Grand Prix in April and finished the race 2nd behind Fabio Quartararo before completely dominating the Algarve Grand Prix in November, setting the new all-time circuit record of 1:38.725 in qualifying, before completing the hat-trick by winning the race with the fastest lap.
It’s hard to do better, but that will reveal the current level of competition from one of the rare MotoGP riders who has already secured his future.
Current 12th overall on 38 points from Enea Bastianini† “peco” remains in two 5th places in Argentina and the US, with for this last Grand Prix “ positive sensations found on his Desmosedici GP”.
Under these circumstances, the 5th round of the MotoGP World Championship will serve as a kind of justice of the peace for Francesco Bagnaia: a win or a podium seems logical and an order of things found for the 2021 MotoGP vice world champion. Otherwise the question would continue to be asked about the real progress of the GP22…
Francesco Bagnaia: † After the break of the last few days, I am now charged and ready to face the first European round of the season! In Argentina and America we went back to work like last year, finally making progress and rediscovering the sensations I was used to driving my Desmosedici GP. Unfortunately we didn’t get past fifth in Austin because we lacked race speed. This weekend we will race at Portimão, a track where we were able to perform well in both races last year. It is very positive because it will allow us to assess our work so far and understand where we still need to improve. I can’t wait to get on the track! †
Francesco Bagnaia in numbers:
Engine: Ducati Desmosedici GP
Start number: 63
GP completed: 156 (51 x MotoGP, 36 x Moto2, 69 x Moto3)
First GP: Qatar 2019 (MotoGP), Qatar 2017 (Moto2), Qatar 2013 (Moto3)
Wins: 14 (4 MotoGP + 8 Moto2 + 2 Moto3)
First win: Aragon 2021 (MotoGP), Qatar 2018 (Moto2), Netherlands 2016 (Moto3)
Pole Position: 13 (6 MotoGP + 6 Moto2 + 1 Moto3)
First pole: Qatar 2021 (MotoGP), France 2018 (Moto2), Great Britain 2016 (Moto3)
World titles: 1 (Moto2, 2018)
