MotoGP | Bastianini: “Just a hair’s breadth into Q2, but I can qualify well”

Enea Bastianini knows that if he wants to keep the title race open until the end of the season he will have to qualify in the best possible way with Swiss consistency.

Today the Romagna rider from the official Ducati team managed to set the tenth fastest time during the tests at the Red Bull Ring, a position that earned him direct qualification to Q2 in tomorrow’s Qualifying, even if the margin from Pedro Acosta – 11th – was just 27 thousandths of a second.

“Mission accomplished by the skin of your teeth, but sometimes it’s also true that you’re out of the top 10 by just a hair’s breadth,” Enea said at the end of the afternoon practice session. “I have to say, however, that I struggled a lot today, especially with the medium tire on the front. With the Hard I had improved and was going fast, but it seemed excessive to use it for the time attack. Instead, in hindsight, perhaps it would have been the right choice. We’ll see tomorrow. If the temperatures are like this, the Hard is better for my riding style.”

Bastianini encountered several difficulties during the day, all concentrated with the front of his 2024 Desmosedici GP. The Hard tyre was the one he felt best with and allowed him to brake competitively, while with the Medium things didn’t go as well. On the flying lap, in fact, the medium compound didn’t work properly for Enea, but tomorrow the Hard will return to the forefront, especially in the Sprint. A major question mark regarding the choice of the Soft tyre, which at the Red Bull Ring seems to have no chance of lasting to the finish line.

“The medium front gives me a lot more bounce, it makes me always arrive just a little bit longer, just enough to make me lose speed. Instead with the Hard I can brake where I want and that’s the good thing we saw today.”

“I would have preferred to be further ahead. But as I was saying, I struggled a lot with the front, I can’t stop the bike. When I put the Medium on the front, I do a good lap, then the next one I go long. I do another good one, then I go long again. I can’t take the references. With the Hard, however, I’m faster. But if we want to play for something tomorrow, we necessarily have to take a step forward. I’m not worried, though. I know I can be fast.”

“For the Sprint, yes, I could also try to race with the Hard on the front. I would like to try it a bit better tomorrow. The problem is that in the left-hand corners it needs more laps to get up to temperature, it doesn’t go well right from the start. And it’s the only thing that made me hesitate a bit in today’s time attack, but I really think that I will be able to use the Hard in the Sprint. Then there’s also the rear and we need to evaluate it. Tomorrow we will try the Soft to see how long it can support us, but this is a track where the tyres drop a lot, so I think it will be difficult to do the Sprint with the Soft on the rear”.

Bastianini’s goal will be to get off to a good start in the Sprint, regardless of the grid position he starts the short race from. The Red Bull Ring is a track that doesn’t help those who start behind, so it will be essential for him to sign a competitive qualification and not lose the train of the best.

“I hope to get a good start and I hope to hold out for the first four corners, but on this track if you start from the back it’s very difficult. I think I can qualify in the first two rows, but the first would be better, because obviously it would be easier as we’ve seen in the last races.”