P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Bagnaia gets the ‘true relief’ breakthrough he badly needed
In the opening day of the Japanese Grand Prix, reigning MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia felt relieved and finally understood the braking issues that had been plaguing him in the previous two rounds of the championship. His rival Jorge Martin has cut Bagnaia’s championship lead to only 13 points, the smallest it has been since Mugello in June. Bagnaia had been complaining about something missing from his braking performance since the San Marino Grand Prix, and the issue came to a head at the Indian Grand Prix where he crashed out of second place. However, Bagnaia rebounded strongly and was able to identify the cause of his performance woes, putting the solution in the hands of his engineers to fix. One of the new directions they tried seemed to work, leaving him feeling much better on the bike and ready to be competitive again at Motegi. By the end of the day, Bagnaia was the top Ducati man and three tenths clear of fourth-placed Martin.
Source: The Race