Enea Bastianini tells us how he gets the best out of a MotoGP bike and how he’s looking forward to fighting with new team-mate and reigning champion Pecco Bagnaia
Bastianini looks tiny on a Desmosedici but he’s the same height as fellow Ducati MotoGP winners Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Martin
Enea Bastianini was MotoGP’s brightest new star last season, winning four races aboard his year-old Gresini Ducati, which earned him promotion to the factory team for 2023, alongside 2022 champion Pecco Bagnaia.
The former Moto2 champion is a joy to watch on a MotoGP bike – his riding technique has a natural flair to it and he can magic passing manoeuvres out of nowhere. He’s also very good at saving the rear tyre, which allows him to make those moves at the end of races.
Bastianini won only three GPs in his five seasons in Moto3, from 2014 to 2018, but was immediately more at home aboard a bigger, faster Moto2 bike, taking three victories and the world title in 2020. He scored his first MotoGP podiums in his rookie season in the class of kings, riding a GP19, and during 2022 made the top step at the Qatar, Americas, French and Aragon rounds, aboard a GP21. He completed the year third overall, behind Bagnaia and 2021 champ Fabio Quartararo, and ahead of ten other factory riders.
“Some riders use a lot, but I prefer to have less electronic controls”
There’s no doubt Bastianini is still getting faster, so he’ll have a good chance of fighting for the title next year. The 24-year-old Italian is one of the coolest, calmest riders on the grid, his state of mind helped by his irrepressible manager Carlo Pernat, who’s worked in racing since the 1980s and knows how to get the best out of every situation. Pernat joined us for this interview and occasionally joined in…
Everyone knows you for looking after the rear tyre, so how do you do this? I suppose it’s your brain and backside feeling the difference in the rear tyre when it’s loaded, sliding and spinning?
Bastianini: One of my qualities is this – I can manage the rear tyre in the best way possible during races. Every time we check the data I don’t spin the rear too much exiting the corners, but sometimes this can be a problem, because sometimes you need to spin a lot, like when you try to do one good lap in qualifying at Phillip Island.
Last season Bastianini won four races on his GP21, often saving slides with his elbows, just like Márquez
Gresini Racing
I don’t like spinning like this because it’s not my style. When I’m on the bike my way is to the stay at the limit, just before the tyre starts to spin. I have a lot of sensibility with the rear tyre and for me it’s not correct to spin. But often when you want to do a quick lap you have to do this.
Spin also depends on your lean angle. Me, I always use a lot of angle, more than the other Ducati riders, but to spin you need to use less angle, although how aggressive you can be with the throttle also depends on the tyre allocation. I’m still working on this because this is the reason why sometimes I’m not at the front in qualifying.
Enea Bastianini stormed to victory in Sunday’s season-opening Qatar GP, underlining his talent and proving that a fully sorted old bike can be better than a brand-new bike
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Everything in racing is a compromise…
Yeah, so I have to make some compromises – I’ve been trying for a long time to learn how to use more spin for qualifying and I am improving in this area.
What’s the difference between the rear tyre pushing and sliding?
Sometimes when you go into a corner the rear tyre has a bit too much grip, so it pushes you into the corner, which makes it difficult to follow your line – you want to go here but the bike pushes you there, which is a problem for turning. When you slide you feel it when you open the throttle – with the Ducati this is easy for me to understand.
Also, another of my characteristics is to use less electronics on the bike. Some riders use a lot, but I prefer to have less power in the maps and less electronic controls.
Bastianini becomes a factory rider for the first time – at the post-Valencia tests earlier this month
Red Bull
You also use the front tyre to save the rear – by using a lot of mid-corner speed, so you don’t have to open the throttle so hard on the exit…
When I have a lot of confidence in the front tyre I can enter corners very fast and continue with this speed through the exit. But it’s not easy, like when I don’t get a lot of feeling from the front, which makes it difficult to really push. This depends on the tyre allocation and the grip situation but Ducati is trying to help me with this with the set-up.
Your style seems to be very natural – is there a reason for this?
No, I don’t know why, but I know this: when you don’t think a lot when you are riding you are fast and when you think – I must brake here, I have to open throttle here – you are slow.
Le Mans marked one-third distance in the 2022 MotoGP world championship and should confirm Enea Bastianini as a title contender, even for the non-believers. The 23-year-old Italian’s latest ride in…
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So you want to ride with your subconscious mind, not your conscious mind…
Yes.
Do you have to think more in MotoGP than you did in Moto2?
In the box, yes. Also, now that we ride we have a lot of electronics and devices [including the ride-height device/shapeshifter], which you have to think about, so it’s not simple to manage.
Because the devices aren’t natural to you?
They weren’t to start with but now they usually feel quite natural to me. Every time you go to a new track it’s strange, because you have to learn how and when to use the rear device but finally it’s OK, it becomes natural.
As a factory rider you get the trick parts first – Bastianini trying out a narrow top fairing and ground-effect lower fairing at Valencia
Red Bull
When you were in Moto2 you taught yourself to save front slides with your elbows. Did you do this at races or while training? For example, 40 years ago Eddie Lawson taught himself to save slides with his knees, riding around kart tracks which had been soaked with water…
You can try things like this when you are training but also it’s something to do with your natural style – it depends on the rider, his style and his position on the bike. If you watch Marc Márquez, he is always in the same position on the bike when he enters corners, every time. He doesn’t change a lot, while many other riders sometimes move over the front of the bike, sometimes lean off a lot in left corners but not so much in rights. You need to understand your balance on the bike. Once you have this you can try to push more and when the front closes you are ready. But not always, because it’s so difficult to do this in fast corners, when the speed is high, but I can’t explain this well…
Pernat: It’s a secret!
Have you had any battles with Márquez yet?
“It will be good to fight with the champion. I think this can make us stronger”
So far, a proper battle hasn’t happened between us. I think there have been some overtakes – like at Misano last year [at the San Marino GP, where Bastianini passed Márquez to take his first MotoGP podium] but that was only one overtake, so it wasn’t a battle. But in the future…
Pernat: We will have!
How do you compare with Ducati’s other top riders?
In Ducati we are eight riders with completely different riding styles but with me it depends on the track and the conditions – sometimes I’m similar to Pecco, other times I’m similar to Jack. It’s good to check my data with the data of these guys, because you can see your problems. For example, you can see where you have front-tyre lock and you can see where you lose time. I like this situation inside Ducati.
Jack [Miller] had a lot of corner speed compared to the other Ducati riders, Pecco brakes really, really late in a straight line and Jorge [Martin] opens the throttle very early compared to all the others.
Bastianini chasing Jorge Martin in the 2020 Portuguese Moto2 round – the pair have raced each other every step of the way, from Red Bull Rookies to Moto3, Moto2 and now MotoGP
Red Bull
Where are you?
Me, I’m a little bit of a compromise. Sometimes I brake very hard but my quality is a dance, to have a compromise of all three. Now I must try to resolve a problem with the throttle because sometimes in fast corners I release the throttle too aggressively, which doesn’t help me to turn or to have good grip, so I need to learn to be smoother on the release. I’ve got better this year but I need to get better still.
Now you are in the factory team with Bagnaia – it seems like this will be a big battle…
Yeah, I think it will be a good battle because Pecco is a good rival and I think we are two riders that have a possibility of winning the title. It will be good to fight with the champion. Some people say it’s not the right compromise to have two guys like us in the same box, but I think this can make us stronger.
You always seem so relaxed. Why, because Carlo takes the pressure off you?
When I see Carletto the pressure doesn’t exist! Carlo is a guy from the old times and I like this because I’m also old-school.
Yes, you like classical music, which isn’t normal in MotoGP…
And I also like the riders from the past.
You’ve had Alberto Giribuola as your crew chief since you graduated to MotoGP but now he’s gone to KTM, so could this be a problem for you?
I’ve had a really good relationship with Alby. He decided to change factories because he wanted to be more and at KTM he will be boss of all the engineers. This is a good opportunity for him, so I understand. It’s a bit difficult but I know Marco Rigamonti [Bastianini’s new crew chief, who is moving from Pramac to the factory team] will be really good for me. We’ve already talked a lot together, preparing the future.
Bastianini with new crew chief Marco Rigamonti, who previously worked with Johann Zarco at Pramac
Red Bull
What is the advantage of riding for a factory team compared to an independent team?
The advantages are that you have a lot of guys behind you with lots of experience, you have a factory bike and you always get the new parts when they arrive. Also I’ll have more pressure because I’m working for the factory, so I’ll have to manage this. It should be OK.
MotoGP’s minimum tyre pressure rules will be enforced for the first time in 2023, which will have a huge effect on the racing. For a start, top engineers believe there will be less overtaking and more crashes
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Next year MotoGP will enforce its tyre pressure regulations for the first time. Until now many teams have run under pressure with the front tyre because it’s better, so what kind of a problem will it be riding with higher pressure?
It will be a problem for all the riders.
So how can you manage this problem?
I think it will be good to always stay in front, because if you have a lot of riders in front of you then your tyre pressure comes up, so the secret will be to start first and stay first all through the race. This is the best way!
