Bagnaia: Sprint win at COTA ‘one of my best days ever in MotoGP’

Early pressure from Alex Rins and Aleix Espargaro keeping him honest on laps three and four were the only times Bagnaia looked like being challenged, however, the MotoGP champion eventually won by 2.5 seconds.

Bagnaia was overtaken twice by Rins, but as expected his response was quick and sharp on both occasions as he closed to within one point of Marco Bezzecchi in the championship.

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"For sure, it was one of the best days I ever had in MotoGP considering the performance we had during the whole day," said Bagnaia.

"My feeling with the bike is growing and in this track, for the first time I’m feeling great. This morning with used tyres I was feeling okay, so already I understood where to improve. 

"But today for the race it was very difficult because the conditions were very hot and it was difficult to stop the bike.

"I was having a lot of locking and sincerely, it was a bit of a problem at the start of the race. But then I was used to it. Tomorrow will be a different story."

After a chaotic opening Sprint in Portimao, and a slightly more controlled second Sprint in Argentina, COTA provided the least amount of drama.

Bagnaia believes one of the reasons for that is due to riders getting a better understanding of how to race in the short format, while the other is due to the layout of the circuit which he believes could provide more of the same as Portimao. 

Bagnaia added: "We are getting used to the Sprint race. For sure, the track has less points where you can do crazy things. 

"If you consider that the first race was too intense, the second one had some touch and contact but not as big as the first one and this one was more calm. 

"Maybe we are getting more used to it but also [it’s because of] the track. In Jerez it’s a different story."