Francesco Baganaia admitted that he “didn’t try to take risk” by trying to attack Enea Bastianini in the final corners of the Aragon Grand Prix with the title in mind.
The factory Ducati pilot led the Aragon encounter pretty much from start to finish after making a strong start from pole, though he came under pressure from Gresini Desmosedici racer Bastianini as the race approached mid-distance.
He briefly lost the lead as his countryman slid past at Turn 1 on the ninth tour, though he soon found himself back ahead after Bastianini ran wide at Turn 12.
Having later regrouped, the 2020 Moto2 world champion pushed once again to steal supremacy away from his 2023 team-mate, Bastianini eventually making a move stick at Turn 7 on the final circulation – a leadership he would never relinquish as he took the chequered flag 0.042s clear of Bagnaia.
Bagnaia was thus forced to settle for second – his first non-win since crashing in June’s German GP – though insisted while talking to British broadcaster BT Sport that he was keen to not “try to take risk” with Bastianini due to not wanting to “lose the opportunity Fabio gave to us” after his title rival crashed on the opening tour.
“He (Bastianini) was more competitive in the last laps so I was just trying to be perfect and not make any mistakes, but on the last lap when I saw him overtake me I didn’t try to take any risk to be back in front,” explained Bagnaia.
“Winning is always winning but sometimes it’s better to be calm and not lose the opportunity that Fabio (Quartararo) gave to us.”
With Bagnaia having scythed a colossal 81 points from Quartararo’s series lead in just five races, he admitted that he “lost a little” determination after suffering his fourth DNF of the year at the Sachsenring – though is proud with how he has bounced back since.
“I’ll never lose the determination to think about the championship, but after the Sachsenring where I was 91 points behind I was angry and I did lose a little but after that thanks to the people at home I tried to respond and I am very proud to have achieved what I have in this part of the championship,” continued Bagnaia.
“We are now going to the last part so it will be important to be consistent and competitive across the last five races.
“It’s been three races since we did these races so it will not be easy going there but I think we are pretty much at the same level, so overall it’ll be nice to go back.”
