“Every day I dream about riding the MotoGP bike”

Mahindra Pull&Bear Aspar rider Pecco Bagnaia admits that ever since he stepped onto the top of the podium in Malaysia he has not stopped thinking about Tuesday the 15^th November at Valencia. The Italian will throw his leg over the Aspar Team Ducati GP14.2 after winning a sporting bet with Jorge Martínez “Aspar” and Gino Borsoi, Sporting Manager of the Spanish team

Pecco Bagnaia took his second victory of the Moto3 season in Malaysia, having scored his debut win back in June at the Assen, the Cathedral of Speed, in a thrillingly tight race decided by mere thousandths of a second. His success at Sepang came in completely the opposite fashion, with a break from the pack that saw him cross the line some seven seconds clear of second place.

Pecco, what were the few hours like after the race in Malaysia? How did you celebrate?
Really good. It was already Monday by the time I got back home, which coincided with Halloween.  Me and my friends made the most of it by throwing a big party, mainly to celebrate my win.

You have two wins and six podiums this season, which has been the best of your career. How would you sum it up?
I'd give myself eight out of ten. It is true that we started strongly with the podium in Qatar but over the course of the season we have had problems in some races, or I have made mistakes in others, like in Austria, and we haven't always been able to pick up the results we wanted. Even so, it has been a good season in general.

How has the bike changed from the start of the season to now?
We have worked really hard to find a good set-up and I think we have done a great job because now it is running very well. It was a little difficult at the start because when the new bike came in November we didn't have time to test things. Now we are up there, fighting with the Hondas and the KTMs.

What would you say are the strong points of the bike and where do you think it can still improve?
It is clear that its strengths are in the chassis. This helps me a lot with my riding style; it allows me to brake very hard because the bike turns well. However, I still think it is lacking in acceleration and the gearbox still needs work.

The victory in Malaysia moved you up to third in the championship – a goal you set for yourself in the second half of the season although at times it looked a long way off...
It has been my objective all season and we would be much closer to having it secured if I hadn't been punted off in Australia because the gap to Bastianini would be much smaller. At Valencia we have a chance to finish the championship as runners-up; it is a slim chance but we will do everything possible to achieve it.

At the end of the race in Malaysia you revealed that you had a deal with Jorge Martínez “Aspar” and Gino Borsoi if you won a second race. How did the bet come about and what exactly is it?
We made the bet early in the season, in Argentina or Texas. We were in the MotoGP garage, Jorge Martín and myself. I sat on Eugene Laverty's bike and I said to Martín that I wanted to try it. Gino Borsoi was in the garage and he heard me, so he came over and set me the challenge that if I won two races this season I could ride the Ducati in the test after the Grand Prix at Valencia.

At what point did you think you could get that second win you needed?
Obviously, if it wasn't for the crash by Binder, Mir and Dalla Porta early on when there was the four of us at the front it would have been much harder. But we had been strong all weekend and when I set that first lap on my own in the race, when I saw I had extended the gap over the rest, I started to think that I was close to my objective and that I could achieve it right there.

Have you thought much about the test? How do you imagine it?
It is something very important for me. Not every rider gets this opportunity so to have it is incredible. Before I didn't want to think too much about it because if it didn't happen I would have felt worse. But now that I have achieved it, I am daydreaming about it every day! The plan is to ride five or six laps on the Tuesday but I don't think I'll stop until it runs out of fuel!

It will be the perfect way to end two seasons with the team. What has your time with the Aspar Team and the advice of a four-time World Champion like Jorge Martínez done for you?
It has been two great years for me. The team have supported me a lot from the start. Jorge, Gino, my technical staff and the great relationship I have with my team-mate… being with the Aspar Team is like being with family. Every suggestion I have made has been listened to and that is very important in a team. There is a strong relationship within the whole group and that will always be there. Also, the experience of “Aspar” has given us the strength and energy to keep moving forward during the most difficult moments.