Bagnaia thanks Miller for letting him pass

MotoGP title moves away for Pecco Bagnaia, but it is not for lack of having persevered and having received the assistance of his teammate Jack miller at the Grand Prix of the Americas. Winner of the two previous races, Bagnaia signed a third consecutive pole position in Austin but failed to materialize in the race: from the first corner, he was overwhelmed by Marc Marquez and by his rival for the title Fabio Quartararo.

Struggling, Bagnaia subsequently dropped to sixth, overtaken by Álex Rins, Jorge Martín and Jack Miller, but he managed to regain the advantage over the first two, while his Australian teammate was erased seven laps from the finish so as not to delay him in his march forward. Result: Bagnaia climbed on the third step of the podium and lost “only” four points on Quartararo, although the deficit remains enormous with 52 late units to three Grands Prix du goal.

“I am very happy, we did the maximum”, welcomed the Italian. “Fabio and Marc were faster than us today, so it was very difficult to do better than that. We cannot be disappointed: to take pole position on a track where we were in difficulty at the start. [du week-end] and where we’ve actually always been struggling, that was a good result, but the podium today is another story. “

“I’m very happy because I tried everything from the start but I really lacked grip at the rear. My rear tire was not ready. I was talking to Fabio and Marc, they told me they had the same problem in Misano. At the start of the race in Misano, I had maximum grip, everything was perfect, but for them not. And this time, for them it was fine and for me less. no big deal, it can happen. “

“Then I just saw that the riders in front of me were starting to have some difficulty, so I understood that the podium was within my grasp. The last part of the race was not easy, but hey, we had got another podium. Fabio widened the gap again [au championnat], but it goes like this. We know we’ve lost points on other circuits, in other situations, and now we’ve been doing a really good job since the summer break. We are learning a lot and continuing to do so, so it’s a perfect job. “

Of course, such a result might not have been possible without Miller’s contribution. However, when asked if team instructions had been discussed before the race, Bagnaia replied: “I think Jack made that maneuver on his own. Because at first I thought he was closing the gap on Fabio, since he was doing a really good job with the hard rear tire.”

“But then I saw that he was starting to have little difficulties, then I took away half a second on the lap and he didn’t force me to an aggressive maneuver to pass, he let me pass. and I have to thank him. We do, I think, a really great teamwork, because we help each other every time, so for me it’s a perfect job. “

Questioned after the race, Miller indeed confirmed that he himself had made the choice not to hamper his teammate when he did not have the resources to aim for a better result. “I saw that I was a little ahead of Mir and I don’t know who, maybe 0” 8, and then at one point I saw ‘Bagnaia +0’ so I understood that it was happening. He had made up those eight tenths and I was having trouble “, explained the Australian. “I didn’t want to screw his race up more than necessary, so I just said ‘come on, pass’. I was in trouble, but he clearly had a good pace at the time, so with one pass less to do it’s easier. “

“Now we are in the lead in the teams’ championship”, Miller added, “and I climbed to fourth place [dans celui des pilotes] while Pecco limited the damage as much as possible on Fabio. It could have been a better day, it could have been a worse day, let’s put it that way. “

Despite this boost, Bagnaia does not hide the fact that these 20 laps of the Circuit des Amériques were grueling on a very bumpy track – a factor that did not fail to raise the debate this weekend. “It was as hard as I expected. Of course, concentration helps a lot during the race, because you start to think about how many laps you have left, you look once or twice. The first time I do. I saw how many laps there were, there were 13 left, and I thought it was too much. But I refocused, everything was better, and I saw that there were two laps left. And it was okay. Of course for me it was harder than Malaysia “, he concluded.