Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia has conceded that it was “impossible to beat” championship rival Jorge Martin to victory in the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix.
Bagnaia was able to take three points out of Martin’s championship lead amid a surprise Sprint win on Saturday in Mandalika, but he struggled in the main race.
The Italian said he was “resigned to results” like his third place, but acknowledged that he had been “dreaming” for more after his triumph in the truncated encounter.
“After the start of the weekend, I was resigned to results like this, but after yesterday no, because I was dreaming to be closer to Jorge,” Bagnaia told TNT Sports’ Gavin Emmett.
“But after the start I already understood it was impossible to beat him today.
“I tried to be perfect and smooth with the tyre but I missed the start another time, the rear started to spin again and I lost positions.
“Then I was just trying to be very careful on everything with the acceleration but I was struggling to overtake them.
“I was with Bezz in front of me and with the 23 bike his acceleration was much more than mine for the rear grip that his bike had, so I was struggling a bit.
“When I overtook Bezz it was much easier to overtake Franky because it was my same bike.
“In any case, considering the start, it’s a good place and we recovered three points in the championship from the start of the week so it’s good.”
There had been a chance that Bagnaia was going to earn an additional four points after second-placed finisher Pedro Acosta was investigated for a tyre pressure infringement.
Bagnaia highlighted that it would have made him feel “much better” about his weekend, but the GasGas rider was eventually cleared and allowed to keep second.
Bagnaia insists start problem won’t happen again
A persistent issue for the double reigning champion has been on the starts, with Bagnaia getting a terrible launch off the grid for the sixth consecutive race.
When asked if his problem in Indonesia could repeat themselves at Motegi, Bagnaia was quick to dismiss the idea: “No. Absolutely not.
“I think we missed a session here. I missed the qualifying for yellow flags and starting good every time like yesterday is not easy, but I tried.
“Again I miss the start, and I think in Japan it will not happen again because I think it is, apart from the one yesterday, six starts I am struggling a lot.
“It’s something that never happened to me before, so we have to see what to do to improve.”
