Enea Bastianini responds to ‘future’ talk: “I want to think about the present”

Enea Bastianini put together his best ride of the 2024 MotoGP season at Mugello, picking off Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez late on.

Third for much of the race, Bastianini was then pushed down to fourth when Marquez eventually got through.

But that appeared to flick a switch for Bastianini, who responded just a couple of laps later as his late race pace became too much for Marquez.

Then, Bastianini set a stunning 1m 46.2s lap on the final lap to catch and pass Martin.

“It was a difficult race but I’m really happy because it was important to get a great result,” began Bastianini. 

“We have not been really lucky during this part of the season but then today’s result happened.

“When Marc overtook me I closed my eyes and pushed a bit more. I tried to overtake him again.

“In the last lap I saw that Jorge wasn’t really close to me, but he could be my target and during the last corner I just tried to do the maximum. During the middle of the corner I had much more speed.”

But could Bastianini have overtaken Bagnaia had he shown his late race pace earlier on?

Bastianini was unsure, saying: “I think Pecco, today, was really fast. I tried to catch him many times, with Jorge and we were close to him, but every time you tried to push a bit more sometimes you would make mistakes and lose time.

“Also, we suffered a lot with the front tyre and it was not easy. In the last part of the race I can do something more.

“I can’t explain this but maybe it was possible, but probably not. I don't know how close to 100% Pecco was.”

Not only was Bastianini’s P2 result his best of the season, but he overtook the two riders that are vying for his seat next season.

Sending a message to Ducati, but potentially other suitors if he leaves Ducati, which appears likely, Bastianini did not want to get too tangled up in talk about his future.

‘The Beast’ said: “Future, future, future - I want to think about the present. We think a lot about the future but I want to enjoy today because it has been really difficult this period.

“I committed some mistakes but also the team has committed some mistakes, and something has happened, but today is a really beautiful day.

“Usually I’m not really happy about second place but today I’m really happy and I don’t want to think about the future.”