Bagnaia Triumphs at Japanese GP – Acosta Crashes Again
Francesco Bagnaia secures his first win at the Japanese Grand Prix as Martin & Marquez complete the podium after another…
Enea Bastianini couldn’t hide his frustration after a disappointing run in the Malaysian Grand Prix. Despite two podium finishes in Sepang, the Italian was not happy with his performances.
“No, I’m not very satisfied because I fought a lot with the bike all weekend. We started [well] but then we lost something.”
Bastianini entered the Malaysian round hopeful he could gap Marc Marquez in the fight for 3rd in the standings but encountered several issues on Sprint Saturday that his team was not able to resolve.
“I was confident we could resolve the problem this morning but nothing changed,” he admitted. The fact he didn’t lose ground on Marquez in the standings was just “lucky because Marc crashed,” Bastianini noted, adding bluntly, “Otherwise nothing is positive.”
“I was slow in the middle of the corners and had no speed on the entry,” he said, frustrated by the bike’s limitations he felt on the track. “Today it was impossible for me to give 100% and I’m angry.”
Bastianini’s weekend didn’t just end with performance concerns; he also weighed in on the recent decision by MotoGP to relocate the season finale from its traditional Valencia home to Barcelona due to regional flooding.
With the season finale on the line, he was quick to point out the advantage the new venue could provide to his competitor for 3rd.
“For Marc, it’s an advantage to go to Barcelona; it’s his town,” Bastianini remarked, recognizing the local support Marquez would likely receive.
“We have to give 100%,” he stressed, adding, “I have to be much stronger compared to the Barcelona race at the start of the season because I was fast but got two or three long-lap penalties!”
To round out hismedia debrief, the Italian expressed his disappointment with MotoGP promoter Dorna’s decision to race in Spain despite massive flooding having hit the country.
“For me, it wasn’t correct to race in Spain,” he said. “But that’s how it is, that’s Dorna’s choice.”
Large parts of Spain had been hit by intense flooding including the Valencia region where MotoGP was set to hold its season finales on November 17th.
