Pramac Ducati MotoGP rookie Pecco Bagnaia joked that he hasn’t been fired from the VR46 Riders Academy just yet, despite knocking his tutor out of the final spot in Q2 during qualifying in Jerez.

The young Italian squeezed out Valentino Rossi at the end of Q1, pipping the nine-times World Champion by just 0.072 seconds. Bagnaia joked that he hadn’t been given his P45 just yet, instead thinking the Doctor will congratulate him.

“I haven’t been fired from VR46 yet,” he said with a smile. “For sure we’re going to talk about this tonight, I think Vale will congratulate me.

“Because he is a champion, he knows how to recognise when a rider does something good.”

As for his own performance, the 2018 Moto2 World Champion said he is very happy with his race pace and his feeling on the hard Michelin tyre.

“I’m very happy, especially with what I did in FP4 with the hard tyre,” he said.

“I had a good feeling in Q1, in particular with the hard tyre, which I will use on Sunday. Unfortunately in Q2 I found myself with only one used front tyre, so I lost time but I am happy, as the pace is good."