A fourth place hurts, especially considering the potential. This is the outcome of Enea Bastianini’s Sunday at Motegi, who was forced to look at the podium from below despite knowing he could win a race that always remained in the hands of teammate Pecco Bagnaia. Qualifying had been positive, fourth position on the grid suggested a great result in the race, considering the second place obtained in the Sprint.
Once again, the duel between Beast and Marc Marquez ignited a dull, boring race, in which the only moments of jolts were those in which we looked at the stopwatch. The Ducati rider from Romagna and the Gresini rider were close to the battle, but never close enough, so much so that Bastianini then had to settle for fourth place at the finish line.
But it all started at the start, when in the jungle at the start he had contact with Brad Binder, who he always defines as being at the limit: “It’s frustrating because the first lap wasn’t according to expectations. After overtaking Brad, still at the limit, I lost many positions. Too? No, he did his best for him and it’s normal, but I don’t understand, because he knows what the situation is. After two or three laps it is slower. Then I arrived at Turn 11 which had a lot of turbulence and I had no reference to brake hard.”
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing Team
Photo credit: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Once he overtook Binder, Bastianini targeted Marquez, who however now had more. Behind the South African from KTM, he wore the rear tire too much and this did not allow him to fight to try to get on the podium: “I lost a lot of time overtaking Brad and the pressure increased. Once overtaken, I was fast and the sensations on the bike were also good, but it was too late. I was very close to Marc, but it was late. My pace was good, but so was his. I tried to do something more in that part of the race, but I also suffered with the rear, because behind Brad I used it a lot to try to pass him. When it was time to push I was at my limit.”
Bastianini flies to Australia third in the championship with just 2 points ahead of Marc Marquez. The fight for the top 3 is heated, even if the two are now far from the battle for the title: “I’m always here to fight for the podium and this is important for me. But sometimes you have to be lucky and today I wasn’t. But we have to accept it. Many times I am close to Marc and fight with him, but the fight is for third place in the championship and he is stronger at the moment and will be for the rest of the season.”
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