Bagnaia qualified 10th, finished sixth in Sepang sprint
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 31, 2026
Bagnaia qualifying setback
Bagnaia finished 12th in Friday practice, missed direct access to Q2 and had to come through Qualifying 1 on Saturday. He said his pace was hurt most in the middle sectors, where he said he was losing about eight tenths of a second. He called that deficit “ridiculous.” He also said his bike “works only when it’s straight,” a blunt read on a Ducati that worked only when it was upright. During his time-attack run, he crashed and came away 1.5 seconds slower than his own all-time qualifying record from the previous year. Bagnaia said his feeling on the bike was completely different from the February tests, and he added that the track conditions were basically unchanged even though there had been plans to resurface the circuit.
Bagnaia sprint result
Bagnaia still made some ground in the sprint. He qualified 10th after getting through Q1, then finished sixth in the Sepang MotoGP sprint, 8.3 seconds behind the winner. He said the intermittent rain helped him, and he viewed the result as a step up from his recent runs, even if it fell short of what he expected before the weekend. The sixth-place finish showed progress, but it remained below the level he wanted from the weekend.
Bagnaia tire wear
The biggest problem for Bagnaia came from the rear of the Ducati. He said tire wear became severe after just three laps, and the data showed that his rear tire slid too much in corners compared with the other Ducati riders. That extra movement drove up wear while making it harder to hold pace on a circuit with many lean angles. Bagnaia said the trouble was worst in the faster, flowing sections, where the front tucks and he runs wide. He also pointed to a lack of grip as part of the issue, which fits with his description of a bike that only feels effective when it is upright and straight. He said he may have been too optimistic about his problems, but he still planned to keep trying and hoped Saturday would be better.
