Enea Bastianini: Thai MotoGP Sprint win “more than my expectation”

Enea Bastianini’s Thai MotoGP Sprint victory was a dominant lights-to-flag display that saw him quickly build a gap, and then manage his advantage after the first three laps.

Bastianini ultimately won by 1.3 seconds, but both his performance and result were a surprise to the Italian.

“It was more than my expectation, the race of today,” Bastianini said.

“The qualifying has been [good], but, checking my pace, I wasn’t ready to win today.

“But, at the end, I don’t know, all the race I give my 100 per cent from the first lap.

“Also, to be alone probably, in that track, can be an advantage, because you can brake much harder and also for the temperature of the tyre, we know that.”

Bastianini led the race for almost the entire distance. He was out-dragged by Jorge Martin off the line, but when Martin tried to dive under Francesco Bagnaia on the brakes, both of them ran wide, and Bastianini was there to take advantage.

“Well, when I was in first position after the first corner, inside my mind I think ‘Okay, you have to push for three, four laps to try to bring some distance’,” he explained.

“At the end, I also [take] some risks to do it. At the end, it was the good choice. After, I have managed very well the situation, because for all the race the gap to the rider behind was always 1.3, 1.4 seconds.”

Bastianini felt his performance was the result of finding something in the setup of his Desmosedici GP24, but he maintains concerns about his pace over Grand Prix distance.

“At the moment, we have found something, probably, because for the qualifying always we are competitive,” he said.

“But, we have more problems for the long distance. We have to solve that problem for the three races that remain.”

Jorge Martin complained after the race that the heat of riding in the pack with other bikes in front made the race more difficult. Bastianini agreed with this, but added that there are also challenges of being at the front.

“Probably in the front it’s better and you can push more,” the Italian said.

“But it’s like this many times and all the riders know that. When you are behind, you have to stay out of the slipstream, and if the pressure is coming up it can be a disaster.

“Also, when you are alone it’s not easy. When you are behind it’s much hotter, but when you are alone to stay focused is more difficult, but for tomorrow we have to stay focused.”

Finally, the subject of tyres. Most of the riders chose the medium-compound rear tyre for Saturday’s Sprint, but Sunday’s full-distance race is likely to require the hard-compound tyre, Bastianini thinks.

“For me, it can be a risk to put the medium [compound tyre] on the rear [for the Grand Prix],” Bastianini said.

“Also, for the Sprint, it was pushing a bit the front, and when I start to push the front started to move a bit.

“Probably the best solution will be the hard [compound rear tyre]. It’s not my choice at 100 per cent for tomorrow, but probably the hard will be the choice.”