Francesco Bagnaia has dismissed suggestions that he wants to return to the GP24-spec Ducati ahead of the Austin MotoGP weekend.
The double world champion indicated last week he was considering going back to last year’s Ducati setup following a disappointing start to the season.
Bagnaia currently sits third in the standings after a tough weekend in Argentina, where he finished off the podium in the grand prix.
However, the Italian suggested his comments about the GP24 were lost in translation and highlighted that even if he did want to return to the GP24 “it’s not possible” due to the current engine regulations.
“Unluckily, I’m not very good at explaining things in English, maybe, because what I wanted to explain is I want to be back to my feeling of the GP24,” Bagnaia said via Crash.net.
“I don’t want to switch to the GP24, also because it’s not possible.
“I know the new bike has a better potential, Marc is showing it. So, I just need to focus and find back my feeling.”
Bagnaia also revealed he has been losing time on corner entry, despite this previously being one of his strong points in his riding style.
“Analysing the performance, I’m missing in the entrance to the corners, entry speed to the corners. That was a peculiarly good point from my riding style. So, we have to focus on it and try to improve.”
‘Ready like always’ – Francesco Bagnaia ahead of Austin MotoGP weekend
Despite a difficult start to the season, Bagnaia insists he is “ready” for the weekend at the Circuit of the Americas.
While Bagnaia has never won a race in the premier class in Austin, the Italian admits he has spent time with his agent and manager to analyse where he can improve his performance.
“We are doing always a very good job at home. We train well and we try to analyse everything in terms of what I can do better,” Bagnaia said.
“With my manager Gianluca [Falcioni] we analysed different things, with my trainer Carlo [Casabianca] we did other things.
“So, I think we prepared well the race weekend and we have to try to improve. It’s clear that it was not the ideal start in terms of feeling, but I finished all the races in the top four.
“We have just to be calm and continue working like I’m doing.
“I feel good because I know I can be faster here compared to Argentina, which was always a difficult track for me in every category.
“So, I will try to be competitive from Friday morning and continue improving because I know the potential here can be higher.”
