Ducati Lenovo’s Pecco Bagnaia will start the StyrianGP from second on the MotoGP grid after out-performing championship leader Fabio Quartararo in Saturday qualifying.

Lining up behind fellow Ducati rider, Jorge Martin, the Bologna-man is happy with his start to the second half of the season after feeling disappointed with his performance last time out.

“In the end of the first part of the season, I struggle a bit more,” Bagnaia admitted from Austria.

“Assen was very, very difficult for Ducati, for us, and the only thing that I worked on [in the summer break] was to be better on mentality, and I think that we did another step in front.

“Today, we did another improvement compared to yesterday, because yesterday I was struggling a bit with my bike. FP4 was the moment to most demonstrate these improvements, and I’m very happy. For sure this track for us is better than Assen, we can manage better to be strong on the braking and to use all our acceleration. Looking at the classification, we can see clearly that we are four Ducati in the top six so our bike is very sweet for this track.

“Tomorrow is the race. We can find a different situation of conditions, because it looks like it can rain, but some forecasts say after the race, so will be very difficult tomorrow, I think.”

Discussing the view that Spielberg is a ‘Ducati track’ Bagnaia seemed less convinced.

“I think that this year, the difference between manufacturers are less than the past years,” he stated.

“In the past years Ducati and Honda were so much faster than the others, now, no. If we look at FP4, I was the only Ducati in the top five, top six. I think that things are changing. In Jerez normally the Ducati’s struggle but we finished first and second, so this year, maybe all the manufacturers are closer. For sure we have an advantage in terms of straight and the speed, but they have advantage in terms of turning and in sector three. I have a great possibility to do my first victory but I think also that will not be so easy, like maybe guys expect.

“Sector three is a sector where, in Moto2 I was so fast there and in MotoGP I’m struggling a bit more. I just looked at the data of Jorge, who in sector three transforms his Ducati into a Yamaha or Suzuki, because he’s so fast! But I don’t know, we struggle more to enter fast and to close the lines and Suzuki and Yamaha do it better.

“This morning in FP4 I wanted to follow Marc [Marquez], that was in front of me, to see if he feels strong there and in sector three he was opening always a little gap of one/two-tenths. So for me, Joan [Mir] and Marc can fight for the win, maybe more Joan, but also Jorge [Martin] and Fabio [Quartararo]. Maverick [Viñales] also in FP4 had a great pace. So I think that seven riders can fight for the win tomorrow, and will not be easy.”

Returning to the focus of his summer break, the Italian was clearly hard at work rather than enjoying some glamorous, Insta-ready, downtime but feels confident that the effort is already paying off.

“First of all, I didn’t do holidays,” the VR46 Academy graduate explained.

“I waited two days and on the Wednesday was already training, in the gym with my trainer. Something I was losing, I think, was - I started well on this point but then during the season I was struggling a bit more - was to push always over the problems. In Assen I tried it but was very, very difficult.

“Another type of work that we have done, was to train a lot with the Panigale and I think that I did an enormous step in front, in terms of remaining constant and fast with also used tyres. So I think that we are working very well this summer break. When you work a lot and you know that you’re working very hard, when you arrive to do your work on track, your mentality is more focused, so I trained like this.”