The Japanese Grand Prix weekend at Motegi served as the backdrop for a major resurgence from Enea Bastianini, who delivered arguably his strongest performance yet as a Tech3 KTM rider. The Italian rider admitted that he finally rediscovered a crucial racing feeling that had been missing for a significant period.
Bastianini's weekend momentum began with a solid qualifying session where he claimed seventh on the grid. He then capitalized on a chaotic opening lap incident during the Saturday sprint race to expertly navigate his way through the field and secure a strong fourth-place finish.
The Tech3 standout replicated that impressive pace during Sunday's main grand prix, narrowly missing out on a much-coveted podium spot. He crossed the finish line just under a tenth of a second behind Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi after a thrilling battle in the closing stages.
According to Motorsport Week, the breakthrough came after an extended morning warm-up session where Bastianini found vital synergy with the Michelin tyres. After initially testing the medium compound, he switched to the hard option, which immediately clicked from the very first lap and cemented his race strategy.
"I’m very happy, because I’d been waiting a long time to ride like this again," Enea Bastianini told GPOne. "Today it finally happened. This morning was a bit strange, because we didn’t expect this tyre to work so well. We tried the medium first, then I tried the hard and it worked well straight away, from the very first lap. At that point, the choice for the race was clear."
Despite experiencing a lingering sense of regret for not being able to make a final-lap move on Bezzecchi for the podium, Bastianini quickly shifted his perspective to appreciate the positive strides he made in fighting at the front once again.
"It’s too early to say we’re back to those days, but at this circuit we were competitive," Enea Bastianini concluded. "We found our speed again and certainly it didn’t happen by chance. After Spielberg we worked very hard, because we had seen Pedro was much more competitive than us. We kept studying from Friday through to today and in the end I was back at the front."
Baca Juga
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Fabio Quartararo akui masalah bahan bakar parah hambat performanya di MotoGP Jepang Motegi, paksa dirinya batasi bukaan gas motor Yamaha.
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