Enea Bastianini: “When Marc overtook me I said ‘no, this is not correct’”

Although he ran out of time to challenge team-mate Francesco Bagnaia for the win, Enea Bastianini delivered a statement at Ducati’s home MotoGP race.

An unfortunate clash with Jorge Martin during the sprint led to Bastianini crashing out, however, in the grand prix the Italian got the better of Martin.

Prior to his move on Martin, Bastianini fended off Marc Marquez for much of the race before regaining P3 with three laps to go.

Bastianini then set about chasing down Martin, who held an eight tenths lead over Bastianini going into the final lap, but it wasn’t enough as the factory Ducati rider set a stunning 1m 46.2s lap as he reeled in the series leader before overtaking him at the final corner.

Discussing which was his favourite overtake, Bastianini said: “Martin for sure because it was second place. It was good because it was not on my mind.

“During the last lap I was thinking I could try to catch him but he had 0.8s advantage over me. I made a really fast lap; a 1m 46.2s.

“It was possible to catch him in the last corner. It was good. But also the overtake against Marc was good for me.”

Bastianini’s late race pace was again stronger than the riders around him, something he didn’t get the chance to show in the sprint.

“I reset my mind and from Saturday I was fast,” said Bastianini when asked about fighting back against the likes of Marquez. “I was really motivated to do something more for myself and all the people here.

“I was sleeping during the middle part of the race but when Marc overtook me I closed my mind and said, ‘no! It’s not correct. This is my podium’.

“I came back and rode like never before. It was good.”