Marco Bezzecchi
Sylvain Guintoli cannot rule Francesco Bagnaia out for the 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix, as he gave Ducati “valuable” data despite a lack of speed after crashing in qualifying.
Bagnaia was one of several riders to crash during qualifying in Goiania on Saturday, as VR46 ace Fabio Di Giannantonio secured pole position for the Brazilian GP aboard the same Ducati GP26 as the two-time MotoGP champion. Bagnaia ultimately had to settle for just P11 in Q2.
It took Bagnaia until the closing stages of qualifying to set a lap time, after he rushed back to the Ducati garage to get on his spare bike. The Italian fell at Turn 9 moments after Q2 started after losing the front under braking whilst looking to place his bike for the left-hand Turn 10.
Bagnaia will now start Sunday’s Brazilian GP from the middle of the fourth row of the grid in round two of the 2026 MotoGP season. But Guintoli believes the way that Bagnaia reacted to his crash in Q2 still offered Ducati “valuable” data that could see him compete on Sunday.
The full Q2 results in Brazil
Fabio Quartararo up in P4 while Francesco Bagnaia struggles again…
Francesco Bagnaia’s soft tyre data from qualifying will be ‘valuable’ for Ducati in Brazil
Guintoli refuses to rule Bagnaia out of the mix for glory in the Brazilian GP despite his lack of speed after crashing during qualifying, as the laps he completed on the soft Michelin tyres in Q2 will have provided Ducati with worthwhile data that they can use to set up a strong race.
READ MORE: All you need to know about the Brazilian Grand Prix, including Goiania stats
Bagnaia was also far from alone to crash during qualifying in Goiania, with Ducati teammate Marc Marquez among the many riders to fall. Michael Laverty felt Marquez took “liberties” before his crash during qualifying in Brazil, having fallen early in Q2 when he crashed at T4.
Guintoli said on TNT Sports 2 (21/03, 14:46): “An early mistake. I mean, he went down hard there and really fast as soon as he started trial braking into Turn 9, and all that braking zone through to Turn 10. That was a really fast crash.
“So, a lot of work as well in the garage, because both [Ducati] bikes have been pretty much destroyed, and Pecco Bagnaia making that mistake. He did put a lot of laps together, though, at the end of that session. He wasn’t able to improve, but a lot of laps really close together.
“So, I wouldn’t discount him for the race, and especially for tomorrow. And the data, he’s done like, four or five laps in a row on the soft tyre. So, that will be very, very much valuable data for his team.”
Bagnaia will have been frustrated with only qualifying P11 for the Brazilian GP, as VR46 star Di Giannantonio and Ducati teammate Marquez in P3 showed the Desmosedici GP26 had a lot of speed to offer around Goiania. His time for P11 was 0.712s and 0.631s off their times.
Only Pramac rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu aboard the Yamaha M1 registered a slower lap time than Bagnaia for their fastest effort in Q2, with the three-time World Superbike champion’s best lap a 1:18.422 compared to the two-time MotoGP champion’s 1:18.122 personal best.
The only Ducati rider to perform worse than Bagnaia during qualifying for the Brazilian GP was VR46 ace Franco Morbidelli on a Desmosedici GP25. Morbidelli failed to join his VR46 teammate Di Giannantonio in advancing from Q1, after finishing that session in fifth place.
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