Enea Bastianini admitted he had “rediscovered a feeling” he had been missing as he produced arguably his best MotoGP weekend as a Tech3 KTM rider in Motegi.
Bastianini showed promise after a strong qualifying in seventh and benefited from a chaotic first lap incident to take fourth in the sprint race.
The Tech3 rider replicated his form in the main race, missing out on a podium by just under a tenth from Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi.
Bastianini revealed he had found some feeling with the Michelin tyres after an extended morning warm-up and was delighted with his rejuvenated performance.
“I’m very happy, because I’d been waiting a long time to ride like this again,” Bastianini said via GPOne.
“Today it finally happened. This morning was a bit strange, because we didn’t expect this tyre to work so well. We tried the medium first, then I tried the hard and it worked well straight away, from the very first lap. At that point, the choice for the race was clear.”
“The start was complicated, because I lost some time getting past Pedro. At that point he wasn’t very quick and I could see Marc, Marco and Jorge pulling away.
“Then, from mid-race onwards, I tried to push a bit harder every lap. Towards the end I was faster, but I couldn’t get past Marco on the final lap.”
Enea Bastianini: ‘Too early to say we’re back’ after Motegi magic
Despite his best performances for KTM, Bastianini admitted he had a sense of regret after failing to pass Bezzecchi on the final lap for a main race podium.
However, he later felt appreciative of his efforts after the realisation that he was back in a position he hasn’t been in for a while by fighting at the front of a MotoGP race.
“I pushed harder than ever to try to get the podium here, and honestly I was disappointed not to make it,” Bastianini said after the race.
“But then, when I returned to the box, I started to appreciate what I had done: getting back to riding in a way I hadn’t for a long time and rediscovering that feeling of having everything under control, of knowing what I’m doing and why I’m fast.
“In the other races, though, I was asking myself why I couldn’t manage it. Here, an entirely different situation developed from Friday through to today, and I really enjoyed myself.”
Although he was delighted with his performance, Bastianini stressed it was not enough to decide whether he was back to his previous best.
“It’s too early to say we’re back to those days, but at this circuit we were competitive.
We found our speed again and certainly it didn’t happen by chance. After Spielberg we worked very hard, because we had seen Pedro was much more competitive than us.
“We kept studying from Friday through to today and in the end I was back at the front.”
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