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2024 MotoGP World Championship
2024 Malaysian Grand Prix
Petronas Sepang International Circuit
Sepang, Malaysia
Sunday, 3 November 2024
Ducati Lenovo Team's Francesco Bagnaia believes his victory in Buriram will give him a mental edge going into the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, November 3.
The reigning two-time world champion reduced the gap to leader Jorge Martin to 17 points in the riders' standings after claiming his 27th career win at the Thailand Grand Prix.
Bagnaia had issues with braking in the sprint, resulting in him finishing third behind Enea Bastianini and Martin, who opened up a 22-point lead over his arch-rival.
Image Source: Alamy Stock Photo
But the Italian capitalised on a mistake from the Spaniard on turn 3 to hit the front with 22 laps to go and he saw off an initial challenge from Gresini Racing's Marc Marquez, who crashed out on lap 13, to finish 2.905 seconds ahead of Martin.
'Pecco' admits his ninth win of the season is crucial for the title race and is confident of doing well in Sepang, having won there two years ago and took P3 in 2023.
Image Source: Alamy Stock Photo
"After the warm-up we sat down and tried to understand what was wrong or what was missing, because in terms of braking I was losing time and I was not happy with my feelings at the entrance to the track," Bagnaia said.
"So I sat down and tried to explain as best I could what I felt and they had the right intuition, so I am very happy to have won today.
"Today's victory is important for the championship, absolutely, because now we are 17 points [behind], but it is more for the mental and the confidence, and nothing more, I am just very happy.
"Now we go to Malaysia. It's another good track for us and we will try to do a better sprint race because we know what we did wrong yesterday, and we will try to improve on Sunday."
2024 Thailand Grand Prix results:
Winner: Francesco Bagnaia - Ducati Lenovo Team
Second Place: Jorge Martin - Prima Pramac Racing
Third Place: Pedro Acosta - Red Bull GasGas Tech3
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