MotoGP: Bagnaia delighted after “feeling better for the first time” this season

Despite an up-and-down weekend at the Balaton Park Circuit, two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia claimed that the Hungarian round marked the first time that he felt better this season.

After a coming together with Marco Bezzecchi at the start, Márquez recovered to second place with 22 laps to go, before taking the lead on lap 11.

From then on, the Spaniard managed the gap until the chequered flag, eventually crossing the line with more than four seconds in hand over the runner-up, Pedro Acosta.

His team-mate Francesco Bagnaia started 13th on the grid. Although he climbed up to seventh on the opening lap, he lost two places later on and finished ninth at the inaugural Balaton Park race.

Reflecting on his race in Hungary, the Italian said: “It went well. At the beginning it took me a little while to find the feeling, but then it kept improving lap after lap.

“In the final laps I tried to overtake Pol (Espargaró) after tailing him for so long, but I ended up missing the braking mark at turn five.”

Pushed on to reveal whether his feelings on the Desmosedici GP25 have improved, Bagnaia claimed that the tweaks to the setup appear to work.

“This is the first time this season that I’ve felt better: obviously the result is not up to our expectations, but the goal of finding a solution has begun bearing some fruit. The step forward made across these three days was significant and I’m happy.”