Enea Bastianini dismisses idea to aid Pecco Bagnaia’s title hopes

A 14th-place finish in the MotoGP Thai Grand Prix leaves Enea Bastianini out of mathematical title contention, but he says that he won’t be switching his focus to help his factory Ducati teammate, Francesco Bagnaia.

Bastianini started alongside Bagnaia on the front row of the grid in second place, but he lost ground launching off the line and was 13th by the end of the first lap.

“To be honest, I don’t know what happened at the start, because I lost many positions, also from the exit from the first corner on the straight it was as if I was with 30 horsepower less,” Bastianini said after the Thai Grand Prix.

However, he went on to explain that he — intentionally — didn’t use the front start device on his Desmosedici GP24 on the advice of the Ducati Lenovo Team.

“I was without the front device on the start, because the team say that for me it’s better to don’t [use the front start device] because you can spin with the front device,” Bastianini said.

“But at the end the rider with the front device on was much more competitive compared to me in the start.”

After Bastianini’s poor start, he was coming through the field well and was seventh by the time he crashed on lap nine.

“After this [start], it was necessary for me to put temperature on the tyre because the first lap has been a disaster,” Bastianini explained.

“But after that, I bring confidence and, lap-by-lap, I was much faster.

“I was seventh, very close to the leader because we were close together in that moment of the race, but in turn eight I entered a bit faster than the lap before, and I lose the front.

“The confidence was not bad to be in a situation like this, but I crashed.”

Bastianini’s race had been something of a turnaround before his crash, having struggled in Warm Up, the only other wet session of the weekend, after which he was forced to make setup changes.

“We changed the setup a bit, because I was with very hard springs for the Warm Up and it was difficult to transfer the bike,” Bastianini explained.

“In the race, it was good, but the main problem was the front, every time it started to move a lot.

“[It’s] the same problem I have sometimes in dry conditions, but in the wet it’s less consistent and it’s more difficult for me to ride over the problem.”

Bastianini’s crash and resulting 14th-place finish now means that the rider on his way to Tech3 KTM next year is mathematically out of contention for the title.

Instead, the championship will be decided by Jorge Martin — who leads the points after the Thai Grand Prix where he finished — and Francesco Bagnaia, who won the Thai Grand Prix and lies second in the riders’ standings.

“Now, the [title fight] is only mathematically for two riders, Jorge [Martin] and Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia],” Bastianini began.

“[Bagnaia] today demonstrated a very incredible potential. Also, I have spoke with him before the race and he wasn’t really positive for the race.

“In the Warm Up, me and him weren’t fast, but in the end, for the race, we were competitive.

“He’s been a bit more lucky, because in the first laps he was in first place and it’s been much easier, but at the end he pushed a lot and won. Now, it’s 17 points [between Martin and Bagnaia].

“About myself, I lost a chance to recover many points, because also [Marc] Marquez crashed, but when the track is wet it’s easier to make mistakes.”

Bastianini explained that the way he and Marc Marquez ride meant that it was more likely for them to make a mistake in the wet conditions of Buriram than for other riders.

“Also, me and Marc have a different style compared to the other riders,” Bastianini said.

“We work a lot with the front tyre, and in that condition like today we were a bit more on the limit.”

Does Bastianini’s mathematical impossibility to win the title mean that he will now help his teammate in the championship battle?

“No, it’s not time,” he said. “I want to win also in Malaysia.”