Enea Bastianini, in the 2023 MotoGP season, will make his debut with the Ducati factory. A clear technical advantage, but he will have to manage internal pressure.
About Luigi Ciamburro de Motoracing
Enea Bastianini surprised everyone during the 2022 MotoGP season. Victory in Qatar, again in Texas on the track of Marc Marquez, third victory at Le Mans after a dazzling overtaking on Pecco Bagnaia. And another 2nd place at Misano followed by a victory at MotorLand of Aragon, a final 2nd place at Sepang… In Valencia, the eighth place at the finish was worth gold, allowing him to close the World Championship at 3rd place, behind bagnaia et Quarterly and ahead of the veteran Aleix Espargaró.
One more time Ducati was wise in the choice of its pilots. George Martin seemed predestined for promotion to the factory team, with a verbal promise that was later withdrawn in favor of the Romagna rider. The “Beast” was “lucky” to start the MotoGP season with a Ducati Desmosedici GP21, which gradually received updates during the championship. While the other official reds had to finalize the last details, Enea immediately got off to a good start, arriving at the first European stage with two victories already under his belt. Not only did he win, but he excited himself with exciting duels with Pecco Bagnaia, who will be his box partner from next year. And in 2023, it could take a step forward, or even take off.
Enea Bastianini will have to make a qualitative, sporting and mental leap
A move to the factory Ducati has always been a dream opportunity, a springboard not to be missed. However, he lost the team leader Alberto Giribuola who had joined him during the previous two years in MotoGP. He will find Marco Rigamonti who collaborated with Johann zarco at Pramac in recent years. Around him, Enea Bastianini will have the best from an engineering and technical point of view, and every piece will be in its place to aim for the world title. All possibilities will be offered, there is no alibi, especially at a time when Ducati has opened up a big technical gap with its rivals. But all that glitters is not gold...
Au Gresini Racing team, he was able to compete without too much psychological pressure. No one “ordered” him to win and bastianini surprised everyone, starting with Nadia Padovani up to the direction of Borgo Panigale. From now on, he will be “forced” to win, to support the technicians Ducati. Free practice sessions will also be used to test new parts and it will not always be possible to immediately focus on tuning and pure performance. Enea is called upon for a qualitative, sporting and mental leap. In the other corner of the box, there will be the reigning champion Pecco Bagnaia, a rather calm and diplomatic character, but on the track, he will give no quarter. bagnaia wants to reconfirm, bastianini aims for his first MotoGP title.
Not considering George Martin will benefit from equal treatment and will want to demonstrate that the Emilian manufacturer made a mistake in not choosing it… Pressure will be exerted from all sides. For “Bestia” it promises to be a psychological battle first and then an athletic one. If he manages to make the next psychological “click”, then the game will be over. Because in a factory team, especially at Ducati, there is not much time to settle down.
