RiderTua.com – Having shone at the start of the season, Enea ‘Bestia’ Bastianini is now in a fading phase after bagging three wins in the first seven races for the Gresini squad. Until the Le Mans series it seemed he was destined to become the best Ducati rider, able to compete for the world title with the Desmosedici GP21. But then two zeros at Mugello and Barcelona reduced that dream and the hopes of the Gresini driver who has just 11 points between the Sachsenring and Assen. Together with his chief mechanic, Alberto Giribuola will need a way to reset strategy in the second half of the season. And found a second basic setup to better handle some of the circuit types that didn’t suit his racing style.
At the last MotoGP race at Assen Enea also experienced a technical failure, which ruined his qualifying session. “We had a technical problem with the bike during qualifying. For Q1 we have two soft tyres, the first one is mounted on that bike there and therefore we only have one tire available. We are trying to make the best lap times, but others have the advantage of having one more tire,” said chief engineer Alberto Giribuola. Unfortunately, those troublesome moments prevented them from taking the second soft tyre from the damaged bike and allowing Bastianini to try the final attack with a new soft tyre…
Bastianini’s Own Problem
‘Bestia’ seems to be facing a period of calm after three wins. Too many drops which, according to Alberto Giribuola, were caused by the condition of some tracks. “In this part of the season there are some tracks that are not completely under Bastianini’s control. At Assen, for example, he struggled. Hence also the lack of confidence with the front of the bike as he is unable to maneuver it. At Mugello he was fast, he was able to get very good results, there were mistakes which unfortunately happened. At Barcelona the grip is very tight… My feeling is that we are in a phase of the season where for certain drivers with certain characteristics it is more complicated,” said Giribuola.
Silverstone and the Red Bull Ring will be the two defining MotoGP rounds for his future and for the world rankings. The hope is to see Enea Bastianini in the top row to fight with the big names… “If we take a track like Sepang, we go really strong from the start in the winter tests. This means that depending on the type of track, Enea has several characteristics. We need to find a balance to be strong even when the track is not on our best list”.
After the summer, the new aerodynamic package for Bastianini will arrive on par with the factory Ducati riders and could be a valuable help for the Gresini team… “We did some tests in Barcelona with a different fairing… We are waiting for the second fairing. But it will take time to produce it and get it ready for testing,” he said.
