Enea Bastianini on the Sepang podium after a breathtaking challenge with Pecco Bagnaia. No team order for the Gresini driver.
In Malaysia we witnessed yet another seasonal duel between Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini. The leader of the World Championship stood in front of him at the start, he remained glued to the exhausts of the official GP22, for three laps he was also in front of him, but he did not have the pace to take off. The ‘Bestia’ had some traction problems from the middle of the race and his best times were done while he was in the wake of Pecco.
Some have speculated that Enea intentionally let his future teammate pass, to listen to some team orders from top management. Instead, in the post-Malaysia debriefing he admits that he tried to the last. “I gave 100%, I tried to go in front, but in the middle of the race something changed and I had less traction – says Bastianini -. Obviously a signal arrived, I preferred to let Pecco pass to attack him on the last lap, but attacking on the last lap is never easy, knowing that I have a big responsibility … it was one thing … come on …“.
Bastianini in Valencia for bonuses
Difficult to manage certain situations, when your future garage colleague is fighting for the title and a risky maneuver could ruin everything. His bike didn’t give him the confidence he needed to aim for victory. “We were a little more competitive yesterday“, Added the Gresini team rider. “It’s never easy to manage a race like this when your next teammate is fighting for the World Cup. It is not true that today I wanted to pull back, but I had an eye on it“.
Now the last race remains, a last effort is needed on a track that has almost never given him great satisfaction. Yet with this Ducati Desmosedici it is not impossible, indeed. Last season the podium was monopolized by three Ducati riders and this year Enea Bastianini took a significant step. The goal is third place on the leaderboard to get your hands on the bonus prizes for the top 3. Aleix Espargarò is only one point ahead …
The best strategy to help Pecco Bagnaia it would be to triumph in Cheste. A non-victory by Fabio Quartararo would be enough to conquer the World Championship and Enea would certainly close in front of Granollers’ rival. “Winning in Valencia would be a good thing, it’s a track where I’ve never been competitive, but I want to try to win“.
