He offered us the pinnacle of talent for three rounds. MotoGP, with the Last confrontation on the razor's edge between Francis Bagnaia et George Martin when Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang, Enea Bastianini's race took a back seat, but trying to keep up with the two world title contenders MotoGP, Marc Marquez suddenly reduced his lead over the Rimini rider for third place on the final podium to just one point.
It is therefore more than ever an objective for the two men, who will only have the weekend in Barcelona to decide. In these conditions, helping Francis Bagnaia Defending his title does not seem to be a priority at all for “Bestia” who will be riding under the Tech3 colours from the following Tuesday…
As usual, we report here his words during his debriefing, without the slightest formatting, even if it is translated from English.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the post-race press conference after a thrilling Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit. Once again, it was Ducati GP24s that locked out the top three positions. Your winner for the 10th time in Sunday’s Grand Prix in 2024, reigning World Champion, Ducati Lenovo Team rider Pecco Bagnaia, Pecco is only the 4th rider in the MotoGP era to win 10 Grands Prix in a single season. Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin sits in second place and leads the World Championship by 24 points with one round to go. Ducati Lenovo Team rider Enea Bastianini completed today’s podium, just as he did yesterday in the Tissot Sprint. Gentlemen, well done to all three! The conditions were very difficult today.
Enea, well done, third place! It wasn’t an easy weekend, quite a difficult weekend, but you come away with a podium in the Sprint and a podium today in the Grand Prix. What is your assessment of how your 20 laps went this afternoon?
Enea Bastianini : “Yes, this afternoon was more or less like yesterday, with the same problem. And also, the first start was good for me, I was in third place, while in the second I was in fifth place, and it was very complicated to be close to those guys. But well, when I was alone to overtake Frankie, I was a little slow and my feelings were not the best, and I preferred to stay calm. And then Marquez crashed and gave me the podium, but we came here with a different objective, to try to win the race, and it didn’t happen. But well, we have to stay focused and fight in the last race. Pecco explained which corners are very critical in Barcelona, so we have to be careful, but fast.”
There is still a lot to do for this last Grand Prix of the season, Enea, with Marc for the 3rd place in the World Championship. But Pecco has just asked you if you could help him for this last Grand Prix. If you can, will you try to help Pecco in Barcelona?
“Yes, I think I can help Pecco, and Pecco, if he wants, can also help me. If it’s the case for both of them, we’ll see, but it also depends on the grid, it depends on the weekend. Jorge did a good job this weekend, he’s a very competitive rider, Pecco too, today he did a fantastic job but I think 24 points for him won’t be easy to catch up, because Jorge has to make a big mistake, and I think, to be honest, it will be difficult. It’s probably easier for me, because I only have one point to win to close the gap.”
At all the circuits so far, we have seen a big difference in the total time of the races with the new Michelin tyres, compared to last year. This is the only circuit where, if we add the two minutes you spent in the last laps, the total time is higher than that of Enea last year. Why?
“For me, I think last year was as hot as today, because I didn’t train much before coming here and it was complicated like today. But today it was very hot, and with the tires it was difficult to be much faster than today. Pecco was very fast, but Michelin changed the middle of the tire a little bit and it was much harder, a different compound, and that for me is the real reason.”
2024 MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix Results at Sepang:
Credit rankings: MotoGP.com
MotoGP Sepang Bastianini
