Bagnaia “can be stronger” in Thailand and Malaysia after losing ground to Martin

Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia is optimistic of regaining the points lost to Jorge Martin in Australia as MotoGP heads to two of his favourite tracks for its next rounds.

Bagnaia’s deficit to Pramac Ducati’s Martin doubled from 10 to 20 points over the weekend at Phillip Island, where he finished fourth in the sprint and third in the grand prix, while Martin took a win and a second place.

Bagnaia was candid about Martin’s advantage at Phillip Island, but remained philosophical with three rounds left in a points battle that has continually ebbed and flowed.

The points gap is almost the same as it was two race weekends ago following the Indonesian Grand Prix, when the Italian faced a 21-point deficit.

“It’s like it was in Indonesia [again] – we recover, we lose, then we recover again,” said Bagnaia.

“We’ll move onto the next ones with confidence knowing that these are tracks where I am very fast.

“[Thailand GP venue] Buriram and Malaysia suit my riding style better and I think I can be stronger – these are two tracks where I am faster compared to here.

“We knew coming to this track that there was a high possibility of losing points. We tried our best to avoid it, but it wasn’t enough.

“It’s true that I’ve always had good results here, but I’ve never been fast like I was at Motegi and at other tracks.

“At Buriram we have a good possibility of fighting again. Last year Jorge won, but let’s see this year!”

In 2023, Bagnaia finished second to Martin in the Thailand Grand Prix but did beat him into fourth place in Malaysia and also won the 2022 Sepang race.

While Bagnaia is correct that the gap is similar to where it was a couple of rounds ago, it’s a more comfortable buffer for Martin with fewer points now available. It also means a fall or any kind of zero score for Bagnaia could be terminal to his challenge.

The 20-point gap at this juncture puts the costly incident with Alex Marquez at Aragon at the front of Bagnaia’s mind, a clash he says “carries more weight right now”.