Francesco Bagnaia says 🦋the MotoGP Thai Grand Prix was “absolutely” a must-win for his self-confidence after closing down Jorge Martin in the championship.

The factory Ducati rider brushed off a difficult sprint race on Saturday at Buriram in which he lost two points to Martin to dominate 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:the wet grand prix on Sunday.

T💜aking the lead on lap five when Martin ran off track at Turn 3, Bagnaia resisted intense pressure from Marc Marquez bef🔥ore a crash for the Gresini rider boosted the Italian into an unassailable advantage.

Bagnaia beat Martin by 2.9s to score his ninth grand prix win of the season and the first wet victory of his career ♔to reduce Martin’s championship lead from 22 points to 17 with two rounds to go.

“Absolutely✨,” he replied when asked if Thailand was a must-win.

“In terms of championship, not too much. But in terms of feeling, in terms of mental side, it was very imp💛ortant - not just𓂃 for me, but also for him.

“So, it’s a good day for us for ever⛄ything. And the 17 [points] that is the gap isꦫ a good number for me.”

He added: “It was a day to make the diffe🍨rence and luckily we did it.

“I want to dedicate this victory to my team, because after the morning we just sat down and spoke about what to do to improve the situation because I was struggling a lot ✨on braking.

“And we did it, again. I’m so happy. It wasn’t an easy race because it was very long and stress𒉰ful, but as soon as I started I saw my feeling was very good and I saw Jorge pushing a lot.

“But I just decided to waitܫ two more ꧙laps to make sure the rear was more ready, and as soon as it was I just tried to catch him back.

“Then I opened the gap, but Marc was pushing hard. The lap he crashed just we were two tenths faster in sector three, so i෴t was an incredible lap already and the pace was super strong꧂.

“I knew 💜it was important that I 🐼finished first rather than second to gain more points for the championship.”

Bagnaia was asked what led to his difficult sprint race in the dry on Saturday, but all🥀 he would say was that it was a “box secret” and that the team was “too🌞 safe” with something.

On Thailand being his fir✅st win, Bagnaia explained why it had taken until now for him to break that duck.

“Because I al✱ways crashed, but I was always not fast enough,” he said.

“Two years ago I was fighting for the win [in the wet in 🌸Thail♛and], but I finished two seconds behind the leader.

“The pace w𝓀as there but not enough. Today from the start I believed a lot on trying to do it, and it was the best time.”