The Avintia driver started the Misano race from 12th position on the grid. In the first six laps he climbed eight places and was fourth. He remained there until after 16 he chained three consecutive fast laps and overtook Jack Miller to place third and thus achieve his first podium in MotoGP in his rookie campaign.
Bastianini was enthusiastic about overtaking eight-time world champion Marc Marquez to get on the podium, saying he thought it was possible to win when he closed in on the leaders late in the race.
“Overtaking Marc, the MotoGP boss, was fantastic,” replied the reigning Moto2 world champion when asked about the riders he had to overtake. “It’s special here in Misano.”
“When I saw [the leaders] I thought, ‘Okay, I can win!’ But afterwards, with my pace it was a bit impossible to win.”
After the warm up, The Beast saw it very difficult to get on the podium, although he knew he could fight for it. But when he overtook several drivers early in the race it gave him a high.
“The key, I don’t know, because this morning my pace wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t podium podium quality. But during the race something changed and I was really competitive under braking and going into [the corners].”
“I think that was the key and then passing two or three drivers really recharged me and I pushed hard to get this podium.”
(Before reading on, click on the link or on the image to see all the photos of the 2021 San Marino GP MotoGP race)
Bastianini is one of the three riders on the current grid that does not ride a factory bike, as the Avintia rider has a 2019 Ducati. However, in Misano and Aragón – where he has achieved his best results of the season so far now – was able to get the most out of GP19 .
“My bike has good potential, but it’s quite aggressive because it bounces around a lot and also has some [ wheelie ] on the straight,” Bastianini said. “But here and in Aragon I adapted my style to this bike, now I am more relaxed during the races and I can be fast in every part of the race.”
