Enea Bastianini “completely free” to race as MotoGP title fight hits first match point
Ducati hasn’t changed its team orders stance ahead of Malaysian GP
Enea Bastianini says he is still “completely free” to race Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia in this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix as the MotoGP title gets its first match point.
After winning the Thai GP last weekend, Bagnaia has cut Martin’s lead in the standings down to 17 points with just two rounds to go.
But the gap for Martin means this weekend’s Sepang event represents his first opportunity to wrap up the championship, with the Pramac rider needing to outscore Bagnaia by 21 points to avoid a final round showdown.
Winner of last year’s Malaysian GP and always competitive at the Sepang track, Bastianini is being eyed up as a possible thorn in the side of the two title challengers as he also looks to beat Marc Marquez to third in the standings.
After Thailand, Bastianini said he would not turn to being a tailgunner for team-mate Bagnaia this weekend and confirmed on Thursday at Sepang that he has not been given any instructions from Ducati to do so either.
“Yeah, I’m completely free,” he said when asked by Crash.net if he’s had any team orders.
“ I have also me something to bring at the end of the season, I can bring that third place.
“I am really close to that. Also Marquez, also me, in the last period have committed some mistakes and we have lost some points.
“But I need to close that small back to try to fight with him in Valencia.”
With the ongoing flooding in the Valencia region, it is unclear at this stage whether the championship will be concluded at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in November.
Bastianini’s win at Sepang last year marked his first as a factory team Ducati rider and came amid a difficult season of adapting to the GP23.
Explaining why he is so competitive at the Malaysian venue, Bastianini said: “It’s one of my favourite tracks.
“I have a really good memory of last year because after a difficult period arrived that victory.
“And it was so emotional for me. It’s difficult to repeat that result; that result will not be easy. But I’m here to try to do it.
“Probably because one of my strongest points is the corners on the right side, and also the fast corners on the right side.
“Here we have too much of this and usually when we compare the data in that point, I’m much stronger compared to the other Ducati riders.
“But never say never. We have to try tomorrow and to see if I can be competitive because every year is different.”
