Enea Bastianini made a solid comeback at the Spanish Grand Prix, securing a welcome top 10 finish after a difficult weekend.
Enea Bastianini can leave Jerez with a smile. He who was in difficulty throughout the weekend, managed to make a solid comeback in the race. After a complicated qualifying in 18th position, and a sprint race finished in 14th place, the Italian, as he has often done since the start of the season, managed to pull off a strong performance on Sunday.
Back in the points from the third lap of the race, he gradually climbed the rankings while benefiting from the crashes of some of his rivals. Having overcome Luca Marini, with whom he rode for part of the race, he crossed the finish line in ninth position, a gain of nine places compared to his starting position.
The KTM performed well in the main race, as Maverick Viñales, Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta finished fourth, sixth and seventh respectively. bastianini remains the last representative of the Austrian brand, he also started from much further back on the grid than them, and remains satisfied with the work accomplished.
"Today it went better in the race, but unfortunately I expected to be the last of the KTMs.", he told GP One. "Starting from so far back, it's always hell to come back. The pace was pretty good, but unfortunately Turns 7 and 8 slowed us down all weekend. That was a weak point from Friday onwards. The vibrations in those areas were really felt. Apart from those corners, overall I wasn't losing that much."
“We gathered information, I also did a few laps with Luca [Marini] trying to understand where I was losing and where I was gaining, I saw some little things. We can be happy with our final result, especially after the weekend we had. I felt confident in the first part of the race, but the vibrations on the bike in the fast corners were difficult to manage, and I lost my feeling a bit at times. I still managed to overtake a few riders and I felt better after that.”
"[The KTM riders], we all reached a new level today."he said. "In terms of pace, we were all relatively close, only Maverick had a little something extra. We don't know why we were more aligned in our performances, but that's how it was. Despite the heat, which generally increases vibrations, we managed to stay fairly consistent in our times."
The Italian rider is on track today with the Tech3 team for the first official test of the season, and hopes to find things that can help him gain competitiveness on the KTM.
Spanish Grand Prix Results :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
