If we look at 12 months ago, Enea Bastianini's season certainly started better. A year ago, the Ducati rider had not even managed to finish the Portimao Sprint and the ordeal of the shoulder blade injury had begun for him. The sixth place obtained in the short race of the inaugural MotoGP weekend in Lusail is therefore a step forward, but the Ducati rider did not hide a hint of disappointment.
After a pre-season as a protagonist and after having conquered the front row in qualifying, the Rimini native had probably set himself at least the podium as an objective for this first outing of 2024, but he too suffered from the rear vibration problem which affected everyone the Desmosedici GP24, so he has a clear explanation for his difficulties.
“It was a different race from what I expected. I was hoping to be able to at least maintain the position, but instead I went a little behind. But we noticed some gaps we have compared to what we had seen during the tests, so I'm sure which in the long race will be different”, said Bastianini.
“We also found a small problem with the rear tyre, in the sense that it vibrates a lot and it's something that all GP24s have in common. We certainly need to work on this too, because it will make the difference on Sunday”, he added.
Enea Bastianini, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
When asked if he is confident that the situation can be improved in view of the Qatar GP this afternoon, he continued: “It will certainly be a completely different race, because in the Sprint we pushed from the start and this generated a tire wear. In the long race we will have to try to preserve it, because there are 22 laps, so it will be more difficult, but I think we can do well.”
Despite these difficulties, unexpected after the winter tests, no particular alarms have been raised at Ducati for now: “Let's say that the bike works well, but there was this unexpected event. It seems worrying, but in reality I'm sure that we will be able to resolve it and we hope to do it for Sunday's match. But it can't always be all roses.”
From his sixth position, he had a privileged view of the first race aboard Marc Marquez's Ducati, which finished fifth, right in front of him: “I saw him well, in the sense that I saw him riding hard, quite loose , so I believe that he will be part of the leading group in the long race too.”
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