Enea Bastianini “lost too much”, “I know where”

16th fastest on his Tech3 KTM debut in Barcelona last November, Enea Bastianini dropped to 18th place after three days at the Sepang MotoGP test.

However, the former factory Ducati rider was at least clear about where he loses most of the time.

While braking progress helped Bastianini to sixth fastest (+0.119s) in the first sector of the lap - dominated by the hard braking zone for Turn 1 - corner entry issues meant he was only ranked 19th in Sector 2 (+0.482s) and 17th (+0.623s) in Sector 3.

Bastianini was then 10th quickest (+0.319s) in Sector 4, which includes another hard braking into the final hairpin.

“Well, the progress…. Not much,” Bastianini admitted at the end of the Malaysian test. “Because from the start until now I [found] just [1.5s].

“But I know in which area we need to work.

“We have to try other solutions and at the moment it wasn't possible because we were trying different parts.

"In Thailand probably it will be much easier to work with the same bike and try to bring more confidence.”

Pressed on where he is struggling the most, the seven-time MotoGP race winner explained:

“Yeah, I know where I lost the time. I saw the videos, I saw the data and also my feeling is [that it is] in corner entry. My entry speed is very very low at the moment. It's difficult for me to turn.

“On braking, we have improved a lot and we are very close - also sometimes we are better compared to the other [KTMs], like in the first and last sector.

“But in Sectors 2 and 3, especially 3, we lost too much!”

Bastianini’s best Sepang lap time was 1.5s behind test leader Alex Marquez, 0.876s from the top KTM of Pedro Acosta (6th) but only 0.146s behind new Tech3 team-mate Maverick Vinales (16th).

This week’s Buriram test takes place at the same venue where Bastianini won last October’s Thai Grand Prix Sprint race, leading an all-Ducati sweep of the top eight.