Positive start to the MotoGP season for Enea Bastianini who knows he has a lot to play for in this first part of the World Championship. Fifth place in Qatar, second in Portugal, 39 points in the standings which are worth the provisional third place and allowed him to overtake his teammate Pecco Bagnaia, responsible for the accident in turn 5 with Marc Marquez.
Ballot between Bastianini and Martin
The rider from Romagna of the Lenovo Ducati team has a great desire to put the bitterness of 2023 behind him, a year tainted by a double injury. It was on the Portimao track last year that he suffered a bad shoulder blade injury following a contact with Luca Marini. In the second weekend of the season he made a mistake at the start of the Sprint which hindered his assault on the podium, but on Sunday he was almost flawless. Too bad that Jorge Martin was unattainable. “The start was good but Jorge’s was better and he immediately took the lead of the race. I chased Maverick [Vinales] for many laps until I overtook him in the final stages of the race. Last year I was in hospital and now I’m here on the podium in Portimao, it had never happened before“.
The challenge with Vinales
Bastianini knows that in the run-off with Jorge Martin for the official team he is at a disadvantage. The Madrilenian is the 2023 MotoGP runner-up and this year seems to have started off strong straight away. the challenge promises to be far from simple and by the beginning of the summer the Borgo Panigale leaders will have to make a decision. In the Portimao GP Enea engaged in a long duel with Vinales, until the Aprilia rider suffered a problem with his bike and ended up on the ground. “I don’t know what happened to him, I heard a strange noise coming from his motorbike, as if he hadn’t put it into gear. The last lap would have been a good fight, I could have tried to overtake in turn 5“.
Challenge to Marc Marquez
Right in the fifth corner there was the much discussed episode between Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia, but it happened behind Bastianini, who he therefore only saw again at the end of the race. “Unfortunately in today’s MotoGP overtaking has become more difficult and contacts can often occur, but I can’t say for sure what happened“, underlined the ‘Beast’. Comments are useless, we need to look ahead, to the next round of the MotoGP championship in Texas, in a week. “As for Austin, I have great memories of 2022, because I got injured last year. It was my favorite victory of that season and it’s nice to be back there, but I also know that there we will have to face Marc Marquez, who has always been strong on that circuit“.
Photo: Instagram @bestia23
