When the Avintia-Ducati team was presented a year ago in Andorra, the spotlights pointed towards the figure of the young rookie Luca Marini, brother of Valentino Rossi and theoretical spearhead of a mixed project, in which Enea Bastianini completed, without the support from V46, a clearly separate structure.
Little by little and as the season progressed, the fixed focus began to rotate in the direction of this young rider, then 23 years old and in his first course in the queen class, with a 2019 motorcycle and the basic standard support of Ducati achieved two podium finishes in the last five races of the year, two third places in San Marino and Emilia Romagna .
Ducati gave in to the evidence and Enea has gone from being a fill-in rider who got his ticket to MotoGP thanks to the title won in Moto2, to now being one of the ‘favorites’ of Gigi Dall’Igna , the big boss of Ducati, with all that that entails, which is not little.
Photo de: Gresini Racing
Photo de: Gresini Racing
Photo de: Gresini Racing
Photo de: Gresini Racing
Photo de: Gresini Racing
Photo de: Gresini Racing
Photo by: Ducati Corse
Despite the fact that in Bologna they now look at Enea as a serious alternative for the short-term future, the budget of the Gresini team has not been enough to be able to deliver a latest model motorcycle, and they will have to settle for the 2021 version, with which Pecco Bagnaia was struggling last for the championship.
“I’m not worried about not having the latest version of the Ducati,” said Enea during the presentation, more resigned than anything else.
”Quickly, when I tested it in the Jerez test I was able to verify that this bike is much better than last year’s (the 2019 version of Avintia) and I think we will be able to raise our level of competitiveness with it. It doesn’t worry me”, insisted Enea, who was fighting with Ducati to have the 2022 bike without success.
This situation leaves Bastianini at a slight disadvantage compared to the official riders, Bagnai and Jack Miller, as well as those of Pramac, Jorge MartÃn and Johann Zarco, and his old teammate, Marini, who will have this year’s Ducati in the VR46.
A situation that will make his great goal more difficult, which is to reach the official team in 2023, a place for which there will be a big fight with the current owner, Miller, but also with the best rookie of 2021, MartÃn, who like Enea He has set himself the great goal of taking the bike from Miller.
“During the year we will see what my path is, obviously I like the Ducati family a lot and I am very happy with them, it is possible that in 2023 there will be a free place in the official team, but I am not thinking about it now, I am going to focus on doing a good year, I want to prepare well, then we’ll see what happens, first let’s do it well this year”, the boy from Rimini releases the politically correct speech, ready to become the great underdog on the 2022 grid.
Â
Photo de: Gresini Racing
Photo de: Gresini Racing
Photo de: Gresini Racing
Photo de: Gresini Racing
