Not the dream race for Enea Bastianini in Japan. While he finished in the top 3 of the Sprint yesterday, his Grand Prix proved much more difficult. Well off to a good start, he quickly found himself stuck behind Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez, but he had all the difficulty in the world to overtake Brad Binder. Too delayed, he no longer had enough resources to catch up with Marc Marquez at the very end of the race, but still remained third in the general classification by only a few points. Despite this, a fourth place is still a good result, he has nothing to complain about.
Enea Bastianini was quite disappointed upon arrival, and in a way, we can understand that. His racing philosophy, which consists of revealing himself later in the event thanks to conservative driving, did not pay off. « The course of this race was quite unexpected. After being overtaken by Brad Binder, Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin got in my way. At turn 11, I couldn’t see anything anymore, I had to make do » he told Sky Sports microphones after the finish.
Then, on his way back up, he found himself stuck behind Brad Binder. The KTM official, with an unorthodox style, is difficult to overtake. “I lost a lot of time behind him. He drives in a weird way. He brakes very hard, stops almost in the middle of the turn, and starts again in slow motion. Every time I have Brad in front of me, he slows me down a lot.” he continued, in a rather interesting explanation which illustrates the singularity of the South African.
Photo :
Michelin Motorsport
From there, getting on the podium became a difficult mission. On a track that exhausts the tires, Bastianini no longer had anything to answer to Marc Marquez, even if we once thought that they were going to do a remake of yesterday’s Sprint.
« To overtake Brad, I had to take strange trajectories, which I was not used to. I used a lot of rubber, and the front tire pressure only increased. I tried to catch up with Marc, but he had a good pace” he concluded.
Do you think Enea Bastianini will finish third in the world championship, ahead of Marc Marquez? Tell us in the comments!
2024 MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix result:
Ranking credit: MotoGP.com
Cover photo: Michelin Motorsport
