Enea Bastianini: “My approach is not correct” to KTM MotoGP bike

The end of the 2025 MotoGP winter testing period seems to have come too soon for Enea Bastianini, who feels he still has to adapt his style to the KTM RC16 he has moved to from Ducati for this year.

The Italian ended the 2025 MotoGP preseason in Buriram feeling like he’d made progress, but also like there was much more margin for him to improve.

“Overall, I’m a bit happier than [Wednesday], because this afternoon I improved a bit my lap time,” Bastianini said after the final day of MotoGP preseason testing in Buriram.

“About my pace, I’m not very happy at the moment because I committed many mistakes during my laps – sometimes I can’t brake hard, sometimes yes, and at the moment I don’t know very well the situation.

“For the race we have to do something more, to understand better.

“Now, it’s important this period [between the test and the race] to study better the data and to learn, because the bike is different and my approach at the moment is not correct.”

Enea Bastianini explains 'the problem'

Bastianini said he and his crew chief – Alberto Giribuola, who previously worked with Bastianini at the Avintia and Gresini Ducati teams – have tried to use solutions that worked when Bastianini was aboard the Desmosedici, but, in the end, it has been Pedro Acosta’s settings that have proven more beneficial.

“The problem is that we have brought the direction of when we were in Ducati, and with this bike [it doesn’t work],” the Tech3 KTM rider said.

“I tried to do some corner speed, but Pedro [Acosta] does completely the opposite riding style – he stops the bike and restarts.

“We have tried a bit his setup and it’s worked well, I stayed much faster, and probably the approach of this bike is this one.

“But it’s not natural for me and, at the moment, I can’t be very fast like Pedro.”

He added: “It’s not natural, because after [learning] a lot from other bikes and to come to this one it’s not easy, but at the end I did a good lap,” he said.

“ I wasn’t at 100 per cent, because for me at the moment it’s not important to go to 100 per cent, but the lap time was more or less good.”

Finally, Bastianini conceded that his “approach” needs to change if he is to succeed on the RC16.

“The approach has to be different, because the bike works very different and it’s necessary to adapt to another style,” he said.

“Also, when you have the new tyre, and when you [go back to] the used one, the bike changes completely and you have to use another style again.

“I didn’t do a Sprint simulation today because I had some problem of vibration, but I think it will be like this in the race – it will be complicated.”