Photo via Crash.net

Pecco Bagnaia calls Sepang MotoGP sector deficit “ridiculous” after missing Q2

Francesco Bagnaia expressed severe frustration during Friday practice at Sepang after failing to secure a direct spot in Qualifying 2. While the Italian rider posted top-three pace through the heavy braking zones of the first and final sectors, matching and even beating factory teammate Marc Marquez and rival Pedro Acosta in those areas, he suffered a massive time loss of nearly eight tenths of a second across the twisty middle sections.

Bagnaia later described that alarming deficit as absurd.

Addressing the media, the reigning champion revealed that his motorcycle setup currently only functions properly when traveling in a straight line, as the front end repeatedly tucks and runs wide during high-speed directional changes. Marquez ultimately dominated the Friday sessions by topping the timesheets, leaving Bagnaia mired in twelfth place and forced to battle through the opening qualifying session on Saturday, echoing a similar early setback he faced at the exact same circuit the previous year.

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