Enea Bastianini’s MotoGP Thai turnaround: “With this bike I can use my strongest point”

Enea Bastianini managed a turnaround of sorts on his debut KTM MotoGP weekend, finishing ninth in the Thai Grand Prix.

Bastianini – who finished third-last in the Sprint on Saturday with a race time almost 30 seconds slower than that of last year’s edition of the Buriram half-distance race, in which he was victorious – was able to finish in the top-10 in his first full-distance race aboard the RC16, only 0.124 seconds behind KTM veteran Brad Binder in eighth.

It was quite the overnight recovery for Tech3's Bastianini, and above his expectations.

“I think a bit better than I expected,” Bastianini said of his Thai Grand Prix, speaking after the race.

“It has been a good race, especially the middle part of the race I was faster than the riders in the top-seven.

“But the important thing was to learn and to understand compared to other riders again, and to check what is my strongest point and what is the bad one.

“I confirmed my sensation: we lose in the middle of the corner, especially in the slow ones, and after we lose 5–6kph, and for the exit it’s not good, especially when the tyre is new.”

Bastianini explained that he made the difference in the middle of the race: he was 16th until lap 14, but was in the top-10 by lap 22, finally passing Fabio Di Giannantonio for ninth with two laps to go.

“At the start, I tried to ride much faster, but I was too aggressive and made some mistakes,” he explained.

“In the middle of the race, I tried to be more smooth, without a lot of engine brake – I changed map – and the bike worked well compared to the first part.

“I’m happy because with this bike I’m able to use my strongest point: the last part of the race. From that side, I’m satisfied.”

Bastianini remained cautious, though, saying that he still needs to ride the bike in other tracks to get a clearer picture of his relationship with the RC16.

“Now, I know better how is the relationship with the bike in this track – I want to check in other tracks if it’s different, probably it can be better also,” he said.

“But my confidence during the weekend has improved. With my old bikes it was super-easy in every track, with this one I need to understand better because it’s just the first race, but the potential can be high.

“Not at the moment like Ducati because [they are] super-fast, especially in this track has been super-fast, also Marc [Marquez] has been incredible, but we can arrive.”