In the Sprint, Pecco pays for a problem with his tires and is forced to slow down, losing positions until he finishes 7th. In the pits, analyzing the data, it will be discovered that the problem never existed: it was an incorrect indication on the dashboard

Once again, the weekend did not go as planned for Bagnaia: after getting back on track with a splendid pole position at Brno, in the Sprint he was the victim of a tire pressure problem that forced him to slow down and lose three positions with just a few laps to go. His teammate Marquez found himself in the same situation, but while the Spaniard managed to regain the lead and win the race, Pecco succumbed to Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez, finishing in seventh position.

At the end of the race, he was visibly angry and, on returning to the pits, he let himself go in a gesture of frustration. It is not known who it was directed at, but when interviewed by Sky Sport, he explained that the tire problem had never actually existed: “I was quite comfortable, I was definitely losing a little to Marc, but I had a clear advantage over the riders behind me. In my opinion, I was managing the situation quite well, but on the starting grid I had an electronic glitch that was giving me the wrong notifications. Then it signaled incorrect tire pressure, and I followed the instructions and lost positions. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t investigated, and we discovered that it was an incorrect indication on the dashboard. We analyzed and looked at the telemetry data, and you can see that from the second lap, I was already fine, while the bike was saying something else. It was a shame because we were doing well anyway. This morning I was struggling with the pace, but this afternoon I was able to be a bit more incisive, so it was the right direction and finishing second today would have been a good result.“

Black weekend for Bagnaia—  The return to Brno after five years away is not the best for Bagnaia. The first free practice session on Friday started in wet conditions and continued that way in pre-qualifying, but the track dried out as time went on. This is where Ducati made its first mistake: while all the riders were out for the time attack, which was decisive for getting into the top ten and going straight to Q2, Bagnaia stayed in the pits until the team sent him out on soft tires. It was a fatal choice for the Turin rider, who had asked to go out with the medium tire, with which the other riders improved in the final part of the session. He failed to make the top 10 and was forced to start qualifying from Q1. In interviews, Pecco was angrier than ever, and Tardozzi took responsibility for the mistake. Saturday was a completely different story: he immediately found the fastest time and flew into Q2, where he managed to set the time that earned him his first pole position of the season on his first attempt. He got off to a good start in the Sprint, but was then overtaken by Marc Marquez in the first few corners. However, that tire pressure problem forced him to slow down to get back into the slipstream, and disaster struck.

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