Winner on MotoGP's first visit of the season to his home Misano circuit, Francesco Bagnaia returns knowingꦕ that a double victory will al🐎so keep his slim title hopes alive.

The Ducati star is now 52-points behind Fabio Quartararo, who can effectively win the world championship - with two rounds and 50 points still to go - if he beats Bagnaia on ꧑Sunday.

"To be back racing at Misano after the stunning victory that I took here in front of my home crowd a month ago is definitely very exciting!" said Bagnaia, who held🐷 off Quartararo's Yamaha by just 0.364s but then lost four points to the Frenchman with third place last time in COTA.

"That weekend everything was perfect, and the two days of post-race testing were very posit💙ive for us.

"Nevertheless, we have to stay focused: 🐷our rivals will come to this Grand Prix much better prepared, and the track conditions will be different, with lower track temperatures than a month ago.

"It will be essential to work well from the first sessions. The objec𝓰tive will be to fight for the win and keep the Championship open until the end."

Team-mate Jack Miller could help Bagnaia's cause, the Australian qual෴ified second to Bagnaia at the previous Misano round and le𝐆t Bagnaia pass without any obstruction in COTA.

"I'm happy to be back racing at Misano again this year," said Miller, fifth at last month's race. "It's Ducati's home track, and ther🎃e are always many fans there to support us, so thiꦺs weekend will definitely be special too.

"We were pretty competitive at th🎃e last Grand Prix, even though we didn't get the results we wanted in the race, but now we have a more solid base to work from over the weekend. We also had two days of testing in September, and the feedback was excellent.

"Certainly, the conditions will be different from a month ago, and ♍our rivals will be more competitive, but I'm optimistic and determined to fight for a good result. We're close to third place in the Championship, so it will be crucial to try and score as many points as possible."

Miller would no doubt relish the chance to catch reigning champion Joan Mir (+26 points) in the standings, the pair having clashed on several occasions 🎀this season, including COTA, where the Suzuki rider was docked a position.

Meanwhile, Ducati now has a slim lead to protect over Yamaha in both the constructors' (+9 points) and teams' 🍃(+2 points) titles.

A third factory rꦏun Desmosedici will be on track this weekend with test rider making his 60th MotoG🐓P appearance.

"🔯I'm excited to be racing here at Misano again," he said. "At the last Grand Prix here in September, I came close to 𝓡a top ten finish, finishing eleventh in a great race that I really enjoyed! I hope I can do even better this weekend.

"Still, the main objective will be to help Pec💖co and Jack get the best possible result in the race and collect other important data to conti💯nue developing our Desmosedici GP.

"Racing on our home track is always very exciting: we'll give our best to try to entertain as much a⛦s possible all the Ducatisti who will come to ch💞eer for us here in Misano!