In the Ducati family, when the curtain came down on the first of the two MotoGP test days in Portimao, there were not only smiles and happy riders. There was also Enea Bastianini who had just had a bad day which was confirmed by his place of 17th and last in the Borgo Panigale clan. Breakdowns, a fall, all sprinkled with a lack of sensations on the track and with the GP23, “Bestia” was encountering bad things which, combined together, do damage in a current MotoGP where you have to be more that perfect to only hope for a top 10…
Unlike his teammate Pecco Bagnaia who played the dominator, Enea Bastianini encountered problems during the first day of IRTA testing at Portimao, finishing 17th in a performance punctuated by frustrating setbacks. The official Ducati thus had a problem with his two Desmosedici, which forced him to spend most of the morning in the pits. Then he crashed at turn 4, fortunately without consequences. Speaking to Sky Sports, he took stock of a Saturday to forget in the Algarve:
« I was a little unlucky this Saturday. It wasn't the best day, we didn't get off on the right foot. We had a problem on both bikes, so we spent too much time in the pits in the morning " begin bastianini. " In the afternoon we rode on worn tires to see what our pace was. He wasn't bad, but not at the level of the best. We will need to progress on this level » recognizes the pilot of 25 years which assesses the damage as follows: “ my pace is definitely not at the level of the top three, but in my opinion, at the moment it is not far from the Top 5 ».
Pecco Bagnaia Ducati: “ between the team's mistakes and my fault, we lost time«
« Unfortunately, the crash in turn 4 prevented me from using the soft and medium tires. It's only the first day, tomorrow we hope to do better and have a little more success » adds the four-time winner of last season, but with a GP21… And there, he makes the jump directly to the GP23 without having gone through the GP22 box. On this level, he analyzes: “ I think the new bike should be ridden in a different way, even though the motorcycles are very similar ».
But there is also this: “ I still don't have the best interpretation of the track. For me, it's also a question of interpretation, because with a MotoGP I've never done so many laps in the dry here in Portimao. SO I need to get some references, figure some things out and start getting the most out of the new bike ».
An assessment which reveals that there is still a lot of work to be done Enea Bastianini before being able to hold his rank at Ducati. But the Italian is not worried: “ maybe I'm trying a little harder than Pecco right now, but we'll get there “he assures. " I'm not worried. I'm not disappointed, but I'm a little angry with the day because we could have enjoyed it a little more. However, between the team's errors and my fault, we lost time ". And he ends: “ Pecco's best time motivates me because I believe that what he did is doable and we too will achieve it this weekend. I don't know if we'll get there tomorrow but I'm confident ».
MotoGP Test Portimao J1: times
Credit classification motogp.com
