Pecco Bagnaia ‘would’ve made a mess of Ducati garage’ if he missed US MotoGP Q2

Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia joked he “would have made a mess” of his garage if he missed the Q2 cut in MotoGP US Grand Prix practice on Friday, after battling technical issues.

The double world champion languished outside of the top 10 as the closing moments of Practice approached.

The Italian ultimately salvaged eighth with a 2m01.371s to secure a direct Q2 qualifying place, albeit 0.444s off the pace of team-mate Marc Marquez in first.

Last year’s COTA race winner says he had a problem with his GP26 during his time attack runs, which ultimately conditioned his pace and put him on the cusp of a second Q1 appearance of the season.

“If I had stayed outside of the top 10, I would have made a mess, a disaster, in the garage,” Pecco Bagnaia joked to the media.

He later told Sky Italy: “We had a small technical limitation, but we’ll fix it. There won’t be any problems for tomorrow [Saturday].

“I had to abort the first two time attacks, and afterwards, when I restarted, I couldn't push as hard as I wanted.

“It was still important to get into the top ten, and we did that.

“Let's say the day was quite positive. With used tyres, I was able to be fast and consistent.

“Here, it's never easy to get a job done with so many laps on the tyres because it's physically quite tough for everyone, and you try to work as best you can.

“However, I'm satisfied with the day, and tomorrow we'll definitely need to make a step forward, but we're in a good place.”

Bagnaia has made an underwhelming start to the campaign, with the Italian scoring just 10 points from the opening two rounds.

That comes after a generally positive winter on the GP26, with Bagnaia continuing his enthusiasm for the bike through the Thailand and Brazil rounds despite various setbacks.

Looking ahead to the rest of the COTA weekend, he remains convinced that he has a package to fight at the front with.

"In my opinion, yes, the bike is working well,” he added.

“It worked well in Brazil too, but after that, there were some limitations.

“Working the way we're doing definitely gives us a better chance of fighting at the front, and I think this will be the first time we'll be able to stay there.”