now looking exhausted by his
Herculean efforts on the gutless
Yamaha, has added just 39.
Writing this without knowing
the results of Sunday's Japanese
GP doesn't necessarily change
much the way things have been
going, and certainly doesn't
change the one fly in the oint-
ment for the six-times 2022 win-
ner Bagnaia—all too often, he is
not the fastest man on a Ducati.
It happened again at Aragon.
Enea Bastianini, riding the
year-old model on which Bag-
naia beat Marquez last year (his
first win), took his own fourth
win of the year after yet another
masterful ride, showing his best
pace when it really matters—in
the closing stages.
Last time he hunted Bagnaia
down was at Misano a fortnight
ago. He only narrowly failed to
win, by 0.034 of a second. The
previous time was at Le Mans,
where an overstressed Bagnaia
fell off.
A
nything can happen.
That's sport for you, and
seldom more so than
in MotoGP 2022, where the
previous five races upended the
championship battle.
Pecco Bagnaia failed to win a
fifth in a row in Aragon, but only
by four-hundredths. More impor-
tantly, over the Dutch, British,
Austrian, San Marino and Aragon
rounds, the Lenovo Ducati rider
has made 120 points. Defending
champion Fabio Quartararo, by
P150
CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
ADVANTAGE PECCO? TIME FOR
DUCATI TEAM ORDERS
Pecco Bagnaia
(left) hugs future
teammate Enea
Bastianini at Aragon.
Will Ducati team
orders play a role in
this year's MotoGP
outcome?
