Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia says he ‘needed’ a strong showing♏ on Friday at the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix following his “strange” Aragon weekend.

The reigning double world champion topped Frida꧙y outright at Misano by 0.185 seconds despite carrying minor injuries from a tangle with Alex Marquez last Sunday at Aragon.

Friday at Misano marked a major turnaround in form for Bagnaia,🍸 who struggled all weekend on the new asphalt at Aragon prior to his race-ending crash with the younger Marquez brother.

For his confidence, he said he needed to have the strong day that he did, while admitting also that he ha♊d to ride with painkillers in second practice after his physical condition left him “a bit scared” in FP1.

“This feels very good to be first in a normal day, not⛦ considering my physical sit🏅uation,” he said.

“𝔍But after Aragon, I was needing a feeling like this on my bikeꦑ because in Aragon everything was strange.

“So, I’m happy. This morning, I was a bit scared about my feeling𝐆 because I was feeling a lot of pain in all of my body.

“But this afternoon we decide🎃d, and we planned in the Clinica, [𓆏to use] painkillers and I felt much better.

“So, being able to just focus on riding was better for me and we did a very go🌟od job with the bike. My feeling was very good.”

On using painkillers through the weekend, Bagnaia added: “Yeah, absolutely [I will use more], also fo♓r tonight to sleep well.

“Tomorrow morning maybe I will have to suffer a bit without taking anythin🌳g.

“But we will try to do something good ev♏en if I feel a bit of pain to have more painkillers in the afternoon.”

Bagnaia headed five Ducatis in Friday practice at Misano and feels this is the “🐻normality” he expected to see last w🐈eekend at Aragon.

“I was expecting a normal [weekend] in Aragon,” t😼he Italian, looking to close down a 23-point lead in the champio♛nship, said.

“Here is the normality, I think. Before ꦍAragon, it was more or less this situation every session.

“Marc [Marquez] is riding well, f♏or sure the win in Aragon has given to him a lot of motivation.

“In this track, I don’t remember well, but last year I was feeling good even if I was not at 100% like this year. But for sure, I was expecting a result♈ like this.”