The great protagonist of the Portimao tests was without a doubt Ducati. With no less than seven bikes in the top ten, she dominated the timesheets, keeping the reference for all the others. Pecco Bagnaia once again made the big voice, breaking the track record, leading a frightening platoon of redheads. Among these is the GP23 of Enea Bastianini, who concluded the tests in the Algarve with the sixth fastest time.
The world champion made the difference over all the others once again, but Bastianini certainly also defended himself on this final day, also breaking the track record and significantly improving times and sensations in view of the first weekend of the season. After a negative Day 1, Bestia redeemed himself by closing the tests with optimism and positivity: “I’m happy, it went much better than yesterday, because we took a big step forward very early, and we also modified the bike a bit and my feeling was better. For me it was possible to push on the front compared to yesterday, where we were already at the limit very early. I’m happy with the pace but also with the time attack. I only did one and it was fine. It’s not at Pecco’s level, but it’s not bad.”
Bastianini and his team have put the first day behind them, throwing themselves headlong into the day that concludes the MotoGP winter and which offers a small taste of what the Portuguese Grand Prix weekend will be like, which is now increasingly neighbor: “Yesterday was a bad day, so I want to eliminate it and this morning we started again with a different mentality. But we were good, we got out of it right away, so the balance of these two days is good. Today we managed to work well and I felt what was done on the bike, unlike yesterday. I would say it was a very good day. We still lack something to fight for the win, but I think we’ve settled in enough, given where we were, that we’ve made progress like this means we’ve worked well. I understood a few things and obviously the team is starting to get to know me and understand what I need. Today I worked more on the setup and riding”.
Enea Bastianini, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Bastianini pays four tenths off Bagnaia’s best time, however he has given clear signs of improvement and is already thinking about the race: “Pecco made the difference over everyone today, especially as he usually does very well on the flying lap. I think I did a good job on the pass, but so did he. So it will be interesting. The Sprint Race is obviously different, today I did my first simulation and you have to try not to care about the tyres, because wear isn’t drastic in 12 laps. While for the longer race it will be interesting because it’s not yet clear which tire to use. I don’t think the soft will hold up, but we’ll see.”
Inevitable is the comparison with his teammate, who was not only the fastest on both days, but also holds the world title. However, Enea sees all of this as a push to do better and get closer to the top: “Pecco is very good at closing the throttle in the right way, I’m a little more aggressive, so what still bothers me is that aspect there. More or less I manage to ride on the same times, but when I have to do something more, I struggle more. On this track I will have to adapt and try to use her style a bit, because it pays off ”.
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