Enea Bastianini fit to race at Spanish MotoGP - can he salvage title hopes?

The factory Ducati rider passed a medical check-up on Thursday ahead of the race weekend, the final hurdle to confirm his comeback from injury.

Bastianini broke a shoulder blade when Luca Marini crashed into him in the opening stages of the first-ever sprint race in Portimao.

He was fortunate to avoid needing surgery but he has missed all three grands prix so far this year.

Bastianini, therefore, still hasn’t scored his first point of a season where he was heavily tipped to challenge for the MotoGP title which belongs to his new factory Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia.

Bastianini is 53 points behind Bagnaia in the MotoGP standings, and 64 points behind championship-leader Marco Bezzecchi.

He came through unscathed from a test session at Misano earlier this week, overseen by team boss Davide Tardozzi and test rider Michele Pirro.

However, Bastianini has admitted he will race at Jerez without the fitness to fight for victory.

“I can't stay at home, I feel like racing,” he said. I'll try to bring home a few points.

"I'll be happy if I can stay in the top 10, it would be a good result.

"I will have to adapt to the speeds of MotoGP, the critical part will be the management of the race and to keep the pace high. 

“I know that I will be very annoyed by the right-hand corners and in Jerez they are enough. Let's hope the painkillers will take effect. 

“I'm calmer for the Sprint than for the normal race.”