MotoGP: Bagnaia in the top 10 as testing concludes

Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia may have been a shining star in Moto2 with a dominant championship victory but the Italian is already impressing the established premier class stars, slotting in comfortably inside the top ten as testing at Jerez finished.

The popular 21-year-old Italian plugged away throughout the test, finishing 1.189s off of Danilo Petrucci on Wednesday, before placing 9th on Thursday, shaving the gap to the top to just 0.388 – of which top slot was occupied by Takaaki Nakagami.

“I’m very happy because the feeling improves lap by lap. I am also very satisfied because we were able to improve the braking phase compared to the first day of testing. We still have a lot of room for improvement, but we are certainly on the right path,” said the 2018 Moto2 champion.

As well as being inside the top ten, Bagnaia was just 0.148s from the factory Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso, showing the capabilities and the credentials that he has in MotoGP for 2019. He ended the 2018 testing programme as top rookie too, nearly half a second ahead of Fabio Quartararo and over half a second clear of Factory Ecstar Suzuki’s Joan Mir.

Bagnaia will certainly be one to watch in 2019, with the Alma Pramac Racing Ducati team still in search of their first GP win too. All of the right ingredients, from motivation and determination to pace and experience, are in the mixing bowl; and the final product could be something quite fruitful if Bagnaia continues to show his professionalism and develop his skills aboard MotoGP machine, in order to be able to live up to his testing form.