Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia came achingly close to his fourth podium of 2021 at Le Mans today, missing third position by a mere 1.7s at the close of the FrenchGP.

Fighting through from 16th on the grid, the 24-year-old put on another show of Ducati might as he worked his way through the premier class pack. Having initially dropped as low as 19th, and circulating in the mid-group after the rain struck and the pit was flooded with changing bikes, Bagnaia’s comeback came as the track began to dry.

His stellar choice of medium Michelin wets held strong while the soft options around him looked to struggle and the Italian rose steadily in the latter half of the race. Regaining his rhythm, Bagnaia began hunting down Fabio Quartararo in the final three laps, after quickly dispatching Danilo Petrucci and Alex Marquez. Decimating a 10-second margin in just two revolutions with the Yamaha firmly in his sights, the effort was ultimately in vain as the Frenchman held on for his home podium by the narrowest of margins with Bagnaia settling for fourth.

“We can just be happy about today” Bagnaia said after the race.

“My pace at the end was very strong. I was recovering a lot of seconds to the leaders, and we managed to do a good race. Last year on wet I was struggling more so I’m happy about that. We have just to check on the data what happened with the bike that I used all the weekend when we had dry conditions because, apart from the race, I was struggling a lot with that.

“Friday, I was telling my team I was preferring medium tyres and today, this choice worked well.

For sure, for the front was better - less movement, more grip, maybe when you have less edge grip, but more stability on braking so I was preferring it. On the rear, with the soft, I was eating too much the rear tyre, so the medium was better. Also the temperature of the medium was better for my riding style.”

Bagnaia’s mid-race progress was stunted slightly, as he received a double long lap penalty for speeding in the pitlane, with the sanction costing him a valuable seven-seconds.

“I was sure that I entered pit lane with the correct speed but they tell me that I was with three kilometres more.” the Italian commented when discussing the pitlane infringement.

“It’s really difficult to feel three kilometres per hour on that bike, and in this situation, when you don’t have so much time, you have to be quick to change your bike, I was not feeling that I was faster but in any case, it’s correct that I receive two long lap penalties because the rule is that. I just lose seven-seconds for that reason, but without these seconds I was closer to the first two. Rules are here to respect so it’s correct like this, but in any case, the next time I will pay more attention on it” he resolved.

“I’m second in the championship, with just one point to Fabio, so we can be happy. I’m now looking forward to race again in Mugello. I was really missing the feel of Mugello so I’m happy about that” the exuberant Italian concluded.