Enea Bastianini struggled again in the sprint race, but remains confident he can return to the front of the field soon and show his true potential.
Enea Bastianini is having a complicated start with the KTM. While his teammate Maverick Viñales has gotten used to it more quickly by riding at the front for the past two Grands Prix, the Italian remains stuck at the bottom of the standings for the moment, although he has made several good comebacks into the top 10 during Sunday's main races. But for the rest of the weekend, for the moment, he has not managed to put everything together in one lap.
Last KTM rider yesterday, he took on this role again today, despite a comeback in the sprint race from 18th to 14th position. However, there is nothing to celebrate since last year he finished in the top 5 of the Grand Prix, on this same Jerez circuit, riding the Ducati.
"We can't be satisfied with today's result, because our expectations were much higher following the small improvements we made in FP2 this morning.", did he declare. "This morning we made a small step forward compared to yesterday, I immediately felt comfortable. In qualifying I thought I could do a great lap […] and I found myself starting in 18th position. The start of the sprint race was complicated because I fought for a long time with Aleix Espargaró and Raúl Fernández, at least for four or five laps."
"I lost a lot of time trying to overtake, and you don't have time to lose in a sprint race, so I'm disappointed. Then I was able to get into my rhythm, and it wasn't bad. The bike was very nervous and had the usual problem it has when it's hot, which is vibrations. I also expected more in terms of feel."
bastianini is going through a difficult period but is not giving up, and hopes to see the situation reversed soon. "I'm trying to face the situation calmly, giving 100%, and being aware that my potential isn't there. I'm behind right now, but I'm confident that by the end of the season I'll be back where I need to be.", he added to GP One. "We can do a good job tomorrow so we'll focus on that."
Spanish Grand Prix sprint race results :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
