‘I felt great’ - Bagnaia’s rain ‘nightmare’ over?

Engine changes put the Italian factory on the back foot during the early stages of 2022, when Ducati’s top rider was not one of the five on the latest bike but Enea Bastianini with a 2021 machine.

“For sure we learned from our mistakes!” smiled Bagnaia, who set the second-fastest lap time at last weekend’s Sepang MotoGP test and, according to Chris Pike's lap time analysis, had the best average pace of any rider.

“In the last test of 2021 the [2022] bike looked incredible, then we moved here and the feeling wasn’t the best. But we worked a lot and everybody knows the story [after that].

“This year, from the first exit with the new bike, I felt great. I feel that we are very close to the 2022 spec, so considering the 2022-spec had four years of development to be already so close is a good thing.”

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But while Ducati and Bagnaia were able to turn the GP22 into a race winner by round six, then dominate the second half of the season to overcome a massive 91-point deficit to Fabio Quartararo, one area of weakness was never solved.

Previously strong in the wet, Bagnaia had struggled to an uncharacteristic 15th after a big save in the Mandalika rain during round two.

Although he was later able to deliver a pivotal podium on a drying track at Buriram, the Italian also struggled to 12th in a wet qualifying at Motegi and didn’t feel comfortable at the same Sepang circuit during a damp free practice.

Unlike in the dry, where all the GP23 riders suffered early on, the rain issue seemed more specific to Bagnaia, with the likes of team-mate Jack Miller and Pramac’s Johann Zarco able to fight at the front.

But the good news for the Italian is that he was fast and comfortable from his first wet laps on the GP23 in Malaysia last weekend.

'Every time it was raining or wet, it was a nightmare'

“Another thing that I’m very happy about is that in the wet did a really good step compared to last year,” Bagnaia said. “Because last year, sincerely, every time I saw it was raining or was wet, it was a nightmare.

“With the old bike, I was struggling a lot. But with this one from the first exit it was already at a really good level, my feeling was really good and back at 2021 already.”

Quizzed on exactly why he thinks the new bike is better for him in the wet, Bagnaia replied:

“I think it’s a mix of things, maybe the inertia of the engine is a bit different and it’s helping. Maybe the balance of the bike. Many things. Also the [new] engine was working very well. Last year I was struggling sometimes with acceleration in the wet.

“I didn’t try the 2022 spec here [in the wet] but I remember very well from FP2 in October that I was struggling a lot. But now I was fourth or fifth in the wet, without changing any tyres, with my time set in a long run of ten laps.

“So I feel great with it. The true reason I don’t know, but my feeling was better.”