Starting from the tenth position, Enea Bastianini managed to climb onto the podium of the Assen Grand Prix, after the one in Mugello. “It’s been a long time since I was on the podium here”, he said in the back of the podium, “maybe since 2016”. Bestia said he was happy with the race and the newfound speed in the race, despite some stumbles over the weekend.
Did you have fun?
“Yes, even though I suffered because they were all borderline overtaking, it’s not an easy track, it was windy and we were at the end of the race, so we were starting to suffer a bit with the tyres, but it was definitely fun. The race was a bit strange because I couldn’t get on the gas on the right, I often lost it when exiting corners, little by little it improved, when the others dropped I did something more.”
On the not excellent qualification…
“Yesterday in qualifying I lacked speed, I wasn’t comfortable in general, I felt the transfer of the bike and a lot of movements. Fortunately it’s not a problem that has arisen often this year, in fact many times we lost positions in the race. So I’m happy to have found my speed again in the race and to have the bike in hand: we certainly made a step forward compared to the end of the time. The qualifying here didn’t go well, there was a bit of chaos and that was it a shame, however, I believe that Pecco was not within our reach in this race, especially in the first laps he managed to push very hard, perhaps Jorge could have been a target if he started from the front”
In comeback races like these, is the annoyance for the bad qualifying or the joy for the podium and the top positions stronger?
“When I go home I will be less happy: because now I’m happy, but when you go home you think ‘Maybe if I had started later it would have been better’. In any case, you can see that it had to be like this and if you are on the podium you shouldn’t be too happy nor too happy: winning is another thing, of course”
Do you miss the feeling of victory so much? Do you feel her close?
“I had a good look at Mugello, then I wasn’t able to get in front straight away and we lost a bit from there, but I think we’re at a good point. We need to have a good weekend in full but we need to do it soon, I’m bored “
Could Sachsenring be an opportunity?
“Sachsenring has never been a track where I shined or that I like but you never know. I know for sure that we will be competitive, for the victory we will see”
You said you were watching Binder and his motorcycle. Have you got an idea of your next motorbike?
“Yes, we see the bikes on the track and they were also the only ones with the soft. I saw many advantages that I don’t know what they would have been like with the medium, also some defects. For now, Ducati certainly has a package of fast riders: we can compare ourselves many times between us and understand where we can improve. The level of riders we have in Ducati is high.”
What was your favorite overtake today?
“We overtook but it was difficult. Since yesterday I improved in braking and I was much more comfortable, in my opinion the most beautiful and difficult one was the one on Pedro (Acosta, ed.) because I had to turn the bike in a handkerchief, like on the Minimotos It’s the one I took the most risks on and also the most satisfying.”
And when he overtook Marc Marquez he declared to Sky: “It was a special moment, neither of us gave up, in the end I gave up everything and we caught each other and then I got the better of it, having the inside”.
