“I do not care what folks say,” Francesco Bagnaia stated after dropping out to Nicolo Brega for the highest time on the Valencia MotoGP take a look at.
Bagnaia and Brega have shared the Ducati Lenovo staff field because the penultimate spherical of the 2025 MotoGP season in Portimao. It’s because Brega was appointed as an alternative to the injured Marc Marquez, who won’t return to Desmosedici till Sepang subsequent February after the World SBK season ends.
Bagnaia completed the Valencia take a look at happy with the job completed, reporting that he was capable of construct up the front-end really feel of the bike that had been lacking all through the 2025 season.
Nevertheless, the Italian additionally suffered a crash whereas trying a time assault and ended up in tenth place, two locations behind Brega, with Bagnaia ending the take a look at in a time of 1 minute 29.731 seconds to Brega’s 1 minute 29.661 seconds.
Nevertheless, Bagnaia praised his momentary teammate’s efficiency.
“I do not care what folks say,” Francesco Bagnaia stated when informed that individuals may view his take a look at negatively as a result of he was slower than Brega.
“Truthfully, I feel Nicolo (Bulega) had an excellent day and labored laborious.
“The lap instances he set on this run have been excellent.
“However to be sincere, I used to be targeted on myself and knew {that a} time assault may assist. (…) I crashed so I did not get an opportunity.”
Brega: “I used to be capable of full a number of laps with out stress.”
For Brega, the Valencia take a look at was his first likelihood to experience Desmosedici with out strain. Desmosedici’s first day on the bike was restricted to 30 laps on Jerez’s moist roads, and he has since began driving it on race weekends.
This allowed us to enhance our efficiency on the finish of the day regardless of the dearth of observe within the morning resulting from moist roads after in a single day rain.
“To be sincere, I am higher now in testing, as a result of I wanted to do a couple of laps with out strain and I wanted time to enhance,” stated Nicolo Brega.
“As we speak was crucial for me as a result of (…) it is troublesome to enhance on a race weekend as a result of you do not have quite a lot of time, you’re feeling quite a lot of strain and also you at all times need to be quick in all situations.
“As we speak was an excellent take a look at for me, as a result of I had put collectively a program. Sadly, the climate was not good this morning, however within the afternoon I did a couple of laps with out stress, talked with the staff and tried to enhance. And on the finish of the day I used to be a lot quicker and extra assured on the bike. My lap instances have been additionally fairly good.”
“I made a mistake on my quickest lap, so it may have been two-tenths higher. However anyway, I am proud of the take a look at as a result of now I am beginning to really feel a bit extra MotoGP.”
For the Italian, it was essential to take a step ahead in testing to show that he could make progress on a MotoGP bike after two weekends by which he noticed no enchancment.
“Each rider’s dream is to go to MotoGP, nevertheless it’s my dream too,” he stated.
“So I’ll work quite a bit for this. I feel I will go house right now (Tuesday) with slightly little bit of an enormous smile on my face, as a result of race weekends are at all times troublesome as a result of you do not have a lot time. However right now, like everybody, we confirmed that we will enhance quite a bit by being extra calm, so I am proud of that.”
