This weekend’s Qatar GP marks the penultimate round of the 2023 season, and offers Bagnaia his first opportunity to win a second MotoGP crown.
After beating Pramac’s Jorge Martin to third in last week’s Malaysian GP, Bagnaia comes to the Losail circuit 14 points clear and can win the championship if he scores 23 points more than his rival.
This has happened only once this season, at the season opening Portuguese GP when Bagnaia outscored Martin by 28 points with a sprint/grand prix double.
Asked on Thursday in Qatar if he was thinking about wrapping up the championship this weekend, Bagnaia says scoring 23 points more than Martin is “too much” for a single weekend.
“I’m not considering this weekend like a match point, honestly.
“I have to gain 23 points and that’s too much in a single weekend. Jorge is doing a really great job and it will be more important to think session by session, to work like the past weekend in Sepang and try to be competitive.
“We know perfectly the tarmac has been resurfaced and could be a very great question for the tyres. I think it could be very demanding for the tyres because it’s new.
“Let’s see. It’s a track that I like, we have always been competitive here apart from last year, which was in the wrong moment of the season.
“But the lap record is still mine and I think our bike suits very well to this track.”
Source: Autosport