MOTO GP

Bagnaia places Ducati in front of Spain (see below for an interview with the Italian driver after his victory in the Spanish GP)

Almost the perfect weekend: either faster not FP3 and not FP4, or registration of the unofficial polo and a fast lap in the race, more victory. How important was today's outing?

-It was one of my best outings with this bike. I always have difficulties not having a wheelie at the start but today we have squared everything very well. I closed at turn 2 because I knew that Quartararo was on my heels, and I was also afraid of exiting turn 12 because I knew that last year he was very fast there, as he tried to close the door. I knew that Fabio was the man to beat today but at a pace it was clear that the problem was being pressed by the front tire due to the temperatures, and that's why he needed to be up front. Today it was difficult to go faster because the bike slid a lot behind me and the front end closed many times. In any case, everything has turned out perfect.

After the difficulties you suffered with the GP22, do you think you are going to stay here at the front and fight in every race?

-The truth is that I was more optimistic during the winter tests, but when we got to the first race we suddenly realized the reality, which was quite different, and we began to have quite a few difficulties. I think we did something positive, which was not adapting this bike to me, but leaving it the same. You need a different riding style, and now you can be faster in the corners. It needs a different style and it adapts to my style in a different way and I adapt to my state of form, like this I would like to continue at this same time, without losing too many points. Because after six races, there are 33 points behind and quite a lot.

It seemed that the shoulder has not given you problems today?

-I was more worried about the race, because this morning I didn't observe the warm up and it was difficult for me. But then at the Mobile Clinic they always have something great to offer you, and it has helped me. In the last part of the race, it did cost me a little more because all the hard braking is to the right, except in the last corner, and in turn 6 it was very difficult to stop the bike because it seemed as if someone was pressing me on the shoulder. And it was very serious. After the race I feel more pain, but that's fine now.

Year end of 2021 you can see the title. Will it be the same?

-I hope so. I still have to recover but I hope to be able to fight against these two riders who are ahead in the championship right now.

It was your first win of the season. Compared to the other four, especially the first one, where do you put this one?

-My first victory was my first victory, as a level of emotions was unbelievable, with this fight with Marc and in Aragón, which is a very difficult circuit for me. And getting it was amazing. But today's tastes very good to me too, because it has come after a difficult period, we have never stopped working, since the beginning of the season, and finally after so much hard work at home and here we begin to show the potential that we already knew was there on this bike, but that we had a hard time showing. So today is a fantastic day and the victory was fantastic.

How did GP22 improve in relation to GP21 and how do you have to change your driving style?

-Already last year I was worth more than passing through the curve, and this year the bike is going a little differently. I had some difficulties to maintain the same style of driving as last year in the last days of the week I worked to get into the curve faster and understand how to do it properly. And it is not easy to change my riding style overnight because I had worked very hard the previous year with Ducati to have great braking and excellent corner entry and the time was a little different. We are talking about small details, of thousandths, which does not make much difference, although now it can enter the curve faster.

What has cost you more to manage, the pain in your shoulder or having Fabio behind you?

-Sin doubt. Because he did not have a distance of two or three seconds, he was five, six, seven tenths, and it is very difficult to make mistakes in these types of situations. So today I focused on driving in the perfect way. When you are in a situation like this, you don't have time to think about whether your shoulder hurts or a problem you have. Also, he concentrated on being better on the track, on being faster. The main thing was to try to go as fast as possible, because it was very long in a curve Fabio was there, so it was very important to be constant.

Autonews/Juan Pedro De La Torre