Enea Bastianini seems like a different guy. Or rather, he seems to have returned to the one we learned to admire in 2022 in the season with Gresini that allowed him to deservedly earn a seat on the factory Ducati team.
At Silverstone, the Romagna rider showed off his entire repertoire, dominating the British Grand Prix weekend. Victory in the Sprint after a splendid duel with Jorge Martin and the repeat just 24 hours later, again against the future Aprilia Racing rider, which proves how strong Enea is, but also how much it takes to qualify well to then be able to compete with the best both in Saturday’s race and, above all, Sunday’s.
This time, the first laps made the Sunday race more complex, where Enea was overtaken by his teammate, Martin and the Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro. His comeback, however, was inexorable and decisive for the final result.
“It was difficult because at the beginning I made a few mistakes at the start and I found myself behind, in fourth place, but I was confident I could recover,” Bastianini told Sky Sport MotoGP at the end of the race.
Enea Bastianini, Ducati Team, with the Weasley twins
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“But I knew that in the last laps I would have my usual particular phase, the one in which I manage to push a little more. It wasn’t easy because Jorge and Pecco were very fast and pushed a lot, but Aleix Espargaro was also very difficult to pass. But in the end I had a little more and the second victory in two days arrived.”
The Ducati number 23 performed very well right from the start, even with a full tank. The rider from Romagna was very good at managing the vibrations – which the riders he fought with today also had – arriving at the end with the tyres in better condition than Jorge Martin’s.
“I expected to struggle more with a full tank, because I wasn’t able to get past immediately and when you’re behind it’s harder to brake. Also because having Pecco in front is tough because he always brakes very hard. I went back but lap after lap, with the tank a little emptier I started to lap faster and I saw that, just like me, those in front also had a bit of vibration. I was able to manage them better and win.”
Bastianini then concluded by talking about the work he did during the summer break. Not something related to the bike – he admittedly touched it little – but in understanding what he could improve on himself to change things and find the best Bastianini, the one who a couple of years ago caught the eye and who KTM hopes to have next season.
“I would like to always be this Enea. I’m working on myself after analyzing the first part of the championship, looking at where I did well and what went wrong. I’ve always seen a great pace in the race from me, but also terrible qualifying. So I knew that was the point I had to work on. During the break I didn’t work so much on the bike but from a mental point of view, to try to get back on the bike and avoid being caught unprepared. Now I have to continue like this”.
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