The Ducati Lenovo Team was back in a starring role at Balaton Park Circuit by taking pole position and Sprint victory with Marc Márquez. Francesco Bagnaia, starting from the second row, finished the race in ninth position.
Márquez got the perfect launch and was able to pull away already in the opening laps before managing his advantage all the way to the chequered flag. Bagnaia, despite a good start from fifth on the grid, got boxed out on the outside at turn one and lost some positions. As the race progressed, Pecco was unable to recover the lost ground and eventually finished ninth.
The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action tomorrow at 9:40 local time (GMT +2) for the warm up, which will be followed by the Grand Prix of Hungary, contested over a 26-lap distance from 14:00.
Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st
“The strategy was clear: get to turn one in the lead and then treat the first three to four laps as if it were a qualifying session. Everything went according to plan because once my advantage grew to around 1.5 to 2 seconds, I was able to manage my effort, especially with tomorrow’s race in mind, as it will be a much longer one. We made a step forward in the left-handers and now we need to do the same in the right-handers, but we’ll get there eventually. This result doesn’t mean that we’ve suddenly fixed our fitness condition, but simply that we’re at a different track, where there are only three right-hand corners in which you really need to push hard. There’s still some way to go.”
Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 9th
“We had the pace to be closer to the front, so it’s a shame about the start. Today’s conditions were quite unique and, if you find yourself behind, it becomes very difficult to overtake. It’s true that I’m braking very hard, but then on corner exit, when you need to find the speed, the rear was stepping out, and I ended up losing a lot of ground. Today Marc made a step forward in terms of grip and I hope we’ll be able to do the same ahead of tomorrow’s race. Fortunately, we did well in qualifying, especially after going through Q1: fifth place, considering the characteristics of the track and my riding style, is a very good result. The goal now is to finish inside the top five in the race as well.”
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