Enea Bastianini’s home race had all the ingredients to be perfect, and it was only 34 thousandths that separated her from that perfection. The Gresini rider started from pole position and went toe-to-toe with an impressive Pecco Bagnaia, who ended up winning the race.
At the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli we were able to see a small sample of what the battle between teammates will be like. In fact, his promotion to the official team was announced just before he arrived in Misano. In addition, the Adriatic circuit is special for Enea, since it was where he got his first podium in MotoGP. The pilot from Romaña offered a great show and was about to win in front of his audience, but Pecco “spoiled the party”.
In any case, the race of the Gresini driver was… beastly. Perhaps one of the strongest since he was in the premier class : “It was a good race, we had fun. I suffered a bit at the beginning because I couldn’t go too fast, and my goal was to open a gap, but when I saw the situation [with so many crashes] I preferred to wait. Instead, in the last few laps I improved a lot; Pecco had an incredible pace and I was able to follow him. Maybe he had even a little more and I waited for the right moment, but I made a small mistake that It cost me the victory.”
Three races at Misano and three podiums for Enea , who is really comfortable on the Romagna track. In fact, it stood on the podium in the two races that were held in 2021. This year it has improved, trying to take the Gresini colors to the highest step, wearing a special decoration dedicated to the unforgettable Fausto this Sunday: “Misano is special; in first because I haven’t been on the podium for a long time, and then doing it in front of the Italian public, in front of my fan club, was the icing on the cake. I live nearby and it’s nice”.
However, he still regrets a single mistake that cost him the victory; in an attempt to overtake Pecco, Bastianini almost collided with him at turn 4: “I had a little desire to win, because that’s always my goal. But it’s fine like this. Did I have a chance to win? I tried with all my strength, even at the end of the race I didn’t stop believing. I knew that it was 99% impossible to attempt an attack, especially in the last two corners I got very close, I had it there. In the last corner I was undecided, but I was still too far and I would have worn it. So I preferred to try to take advantage of the acceleration. It was very close.
It is inevitable to think that Bastianini helped Pecco. But Enea categorically denies it: “I never thought of not trying it because it was Pecco. I thought of attacking in the penultimate, then I thought of the last one so that nothing would see me, but the error prevented me. Unfortunately, when you are very close to the The driver in front is always very difficult. Pecco braked a lot because he wanted to take advantage of the exit more than the entry. I braked hard because I wanted to stay close to him, but to avoid contact I had to open up and I lost time”.
After the San Marino Grand Prix, it’s time to think about the tests on Tuesday and Wednesday, before flying to Motorland in a fortnight. Bastianini will keep trying there: “I like Aragón, it’s a track where I’ve always been fast. I think I can get a good result in the next race, we’ll see.”
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