Qatar GP not a championship ‘match point’ for Bagnaia

Ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar, MotoGP championship leader Francesco Bagnaia was asked what he would do if he became a world champion. The Ducati Lenovo Team rider, who holds a 14-point lead over Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin, came up with an witty answer at the press conference as he held up a board which said: "I will organise my wedding better (less stress).” Martin chipped in saying: "Maybe he can invite me.”Bagnaia is getting married to his fiancee Domizia Castagnini on July 20, but the thought of preparing for his big day is less stressful for the Italian compared to defending his title. With a maximum of 74 points still up for grabs in Qatar and in Valencia next week, Bagnaia is in a better place than his title rival Martin. In fact, the Qatar GP at the Lusail International Circuit will offer the 26-year-old his first opportunity to win a second MotoGP crown.After beating Martin to third in last week’s Malaysian GP, Bagnaia can emerge champion if he scores 23 points more than his rival in Qatar. This has happened only once this season, at the season-opening Portuguese GP when Bagnaia outscored Martin by 28 points with a sprint/grand prix double. If he has 12 points (or more) of an advantage over Martin after the Sprint tomorrow, it’s match point on Sunday for championship leader.Bagnaia, who shared a bonhomie with Martin at the press conference yesterday, said he was not thinking about wrapping up the title this weekend. "I’m not considering this weekend as a match point, honestly. I have to gain 23 points and that’s too much in a single weekend,” he said."Jorge is doing a really great job and it will be more important to think session by session, to work like the past weekend in Sepang and try to be competitive. We know perfectly the tarmac has been resurfaced and could be a very great question for the tyres. I think it could be very demanding for the tyres because it’s new. Let’s see. It’s a track that I like, we have always been competitive here apart from last year, which was at the wrong moment of the season. But the lap record is still mine and I think our bike suits this track very well,” the Italian added.Bagnaia said his main goal for the rest of the season was to do better than Martin. "Yeah, maybe, it could be better because right now 14 points with the championship we are living is nothing. 37 points every weekend is a lot, and you can gain or you can lose a lot of points,” he said."So, it will be important to be calm, work well and try to do the maximum. We saw last weekend he gained three points in Saturday and lost four on Sunday. So, it’s very balanced and I think it will be another head-to-head.”Meanwhile, Martin vowed to give his all as he seeks to overturn Bagnaia’s advantage. The Spaniard, who, is seeking to make history as the first satellite rider to win the MotoGP crown, said he has nothing to lose.The Pramac rider has already assured a runner-up position in the championship thanks to being 75 points clear of third place Marco Bezzecchi. "I don’t know the maths exactly, I just know I need to recover points! So this is my target,” Martin said yesterday."I’m already second in the championship, even if I don’t race the next two rounds. So I’m already in second and I can just change that position to first. So I will take all the risk I can and maybe take some gambles to try to do it. I just need to attack and try to recover the most points. It’s a good chance to acquire a lot of points. But there’s also a good chance to lose a lot of points. So we need to be clever, fast and try to win. For sure there is a lot of pressure. If you make a mistake, you will lose the championship. So we need to be fast, but don’t make any mistakes, so I guess it’s a really complicated weekend. I think it will go to Valencia,” the 25-year-old said.