Pecco Bagnaia fastest in Misano despite painkillers from “strange” Aragon

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia says he ‘needed’ a strong showing on Friday at the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix following his “strange” Aragon weekend.

The reigning double world champion topped Friday outright at Misano by 0.185 seconds despite carrying minor injuries from a tangle with Alex Marquez last Sunday at Aragon.

Friday at Misano marked a major turnaround in form for Bagnaia, who struggled all weekend on the new asphalt at Aragon prior to his race-ending crash with the younger Marquez brother.

For his confidence, he said he needed to have the strong day that he did, while admitting also that he had to ride with painkillers in second practice after his physical condition left him “a bit scared” in FP1.

“This feels very good to be first in a normal day, not considering my physical situation,” he said.

“But after Aragon, I was needing a feeling like this on my bike because in Aragon everything was strange.

“So, I’m happy. This morning, I was a bit scared about my feeling because I was feeling a lot of pain in all of my body.

“But this afternoon we decided, and we planned in the Clinica, [to use] painkillers and I felt much better.

“So, being able to just focus on riding was better for me and we did a very good job with the bike. My feeling was very good.”

On using painkillers through the weekend, Bagnaia added: “Yeah, absolutely [I will use more], also for tonight to sleep well.

“Tomorrow morning maybe I will have to suffer a bit without taking anything.

“But we will try to do something good even if I feel a bit of pain to have more painkillers in the afternoon.”

Bagnaia headed five Ducatis in Friday practice at Misano and feels this is the “normality” he expected to see last weekend at Aragon.

“I was expecting a normal [weekend] in Aragon,” the Italian, looking to close down a 23-point lead in the championship, said.

“Here is the normality, I think. Before Aragon, it was more or less this situation every session.

“Marc [Marquez] is riding well, for sure the win in Aragon has given to him a lot of motivation.

“In this track, I don’t remember well, but last year I was feeling good even if I was not at 100% like this year. But for sure, I was expecting a result like this.”