Enea Bastianini has long suggested that the Indonesian GP would offer the scenario he knows best: a delicate start to the race followed by a spectacular comeback to fight for the first places. All the elements were there until his fall seven laps from the finish.
Fifth on the grid, Bastianini moved up to second at the end of the first lap but he was in difficulty with his rear tire, which allowed Pedro Acosta, Franco Morbidelli then Marco Bezzecchi to overtake him. It was only after the first quarter of the race that the Ducati rider was able to increase his pace.
He then regained the advantage over his two compatriots and while he was 3″499 behind the leader Jorge Martín after 17 laps, his delay was only 2″536 three laps later, with Acosta still between the two men. His recovery was abruptly interrupted when he lost the front at the first turn.
“The start was disastrous because it was impossible for me to get on the gas, the rear was sliding too much”explained by Bastianini. “It took eight or ten laps to get it to the right temperature. Afterwards, my pace improved and I was fast. With eight laps to go, I made a mistake in the first corner. I I went over the limit trying to fight for victory on the last lap.”
During his meeting with journalists, Bastianini admitted that he was attacking “very, very strong” and that he is “arrived a little faster than the previous round” in the lap where he fell. He hoped to overtake Acosta and launch into a new duel with Martín, a week after the controversial overtaking at Misano, without the certainty that he would have been able to get back on track.
“Winning the race, I don’t know [si c’était envisageable]. It was surely possible to take second place. It was tough with Pedro because he was fast, but in the first two or three laps I probably had the pace to be very close to him, attack him and fight. My goal was to win but from the start Jorge was [devant]. At the beginning, I had trouble with the rear tire and that’s how it was.”
Previously, Bastianini had taken four laps to get rid of Morbidelli, which had increased his delay on the two leaders: “I did my best not to lose time but we had a little contact at turn 3, we lost a lot of time with that. Afterwards, I was able to overtake him, but much later. is the race.”
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