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Moto2, Sandi: "Bastianini can do anything, even challenge the MotoGP champions"

The crew chief of the Italtrans team comes clean: "I made it clear to Enea that he had to take advantage of his talent. In 2021 I would like a season with Marquez. Rossi remains one of the top 5 riders in MotoGP"

Moto2: Sandi: "Bastianini can do anything, even challenge the MotoGP champions"

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Giovanni Sandi is a man full of fire: “it’s passion, I'm someone who still has a lot of passion for this job”. But the crew chief of the Italtrans team is also one full of feeling, of gentleness: "every time there is a race the fear is always there and every time, after an important result, I still get excited, I care. Because you know, you see them there, you know what the riders risk. I don't know whether to call it fear, but it's still apprehension. As if they were my children".

Eight world titles, a career alongside riders of the calibre of Biaggi, Lorenzo, Harada, an exceptional energy, at the age of 71 Sandi is still enjoying the breeze of success. Enea Bastianini's triumph in Moto2 is just the latest. A few weeks have gone by, but certain things are engraved inside. "This was a vintage year built from the previous season, a year earlier. We saw that Enea could do great things, important things. The season started with the right conditions, we knew that”.

"Already after the first race I realized that Bastianini could win"

Have you thought about the victory?

“Yes, and I say that winning is never taken for granted, it is never trivial. Enea had been strong in the tests, and when we went to Qatar I saw clear determination. Irrespective of the third place, that GP made me realize that we could aim high ”.

Then came the lockdown. Did your belief waver?

"I was a little worried. But when we got to Jerez I saw that he was ready, prepared. There we started building what we had thought. But it was still difficult. There are many things that are not so easy to keep together, you have to consider some stops, the possibility of not being competitive ”.

What was the defining moment?

"Ok we can win, I thought that right after the first races. Only after Barcelona and Le Mans did I reflect for a moment, we suffered there. I thought: 'Here we have to roll up our sleeves'. But they were two separate episodes”.

"I said to Enea: if you don't win you will remain a rider like many others"

What did you say to Bastianini in private?

“I have always talked with Enea. Him and me, alone. A lot of times. What I wanted to make him realize was that he had to make good use of his talent because up until now he had never done it with determination, with guts, with willpower. I told him: ‘Enea, if you don't win with the talent you have, you will remain a rider like many others. One of those who have never won anything '. This I told him. 'Come on, we can do it, Enea’. Things like that".

Do young guys need different and continuous motivations?

“These are guys who don't always take it in the right way, don't always seriously realise what they're doing. It comes easy for them, they race, they have fun. But if you want to become a champion it takes more than that. It is a generation of kids who live in the clouds. They race, they have everything, they have fun, and therefore they lack that hunger, that determination that makes you make a difference over the others "

What was yours like?

“Poorer, to do what they had in mind they had to make more important sacrifices. Not everyone could even afford to train. But it is also right that it is different, now we live with another well-being, in another way. But when you make certain sacrifices you put something extra in it".

What made you become like this? The passing of time, experience ...

"Life experiences, age, everything. So you try to convey your experience, something important. Even Enea’s father told me several times: for his son I was like a second father ".

"You recognize the champion immediately. A wasted talent? Mattia Pasini, he was too generous"

How do you recognize a real rider, a champion from just a good one?

“You see it right away. The rider is on the bike and you can realize it without any problem. With the years I have, I am now able to understand and judge if a rider is a talent the moment he starts working. You can see immediately if a rider is good. You understand if he is a talent or if he has been built from the ground up, that is, if he needs to be put together by a lot of different things, and he lacks that natural talent ”.

Who is the talent you have seen who threw everything away?

"Pasini wasted a lot, he has a lot of talent, and unfortunately at times he got caught out a bit too much, throwing away important results. Mattia has had several misadventures, he is too generous. If he too had calculated a little more, if he had been satisfied with a placement, he would have done even better".

"Bastiani can do anything now, fight with the great champions"

What about Bastianini, where can he go now?

“Enea can do anything. In MotoGP there is more electronics, more horsepower, more tyres and the adaptation to all of this makes more difference. But as for the bike and his talent, Enea can compete with the great champions ”.

"My most important world title? The first one, with Harada"

Eight world championships, do you always find one more important than others?

“The first, in the Eighties, was very important. We won with a Japanese rider who left his country for the first time. The one with Harada was a great world championship. The following year at Aprilia we won three consecutive world championships and those were important too. Another key moment was when I switched to Cagiva, there I entered an important circle, and there was certainly a turning point. "

What does Italtrans represent for you?

"It is a great reality, a true family. When I was called by them, at first I took it as a challenge. I wanted to win the world title in this category too. Then I realized that more could be done, to build a project, a path. Believe me, in Italtrans there are wonderful people. Even with financial possibilities, of course, otherwise you won't get to do what we have done. But they are even more, fantastic people who deserve everything they are, all the success they've had. They are okay, people of heart”.

Starting with Laura Bertulessi, Mrs. Italtrans…

“Germano, the brother-in-law, is the first enthusiast. And then there is her, yes, she manages everything. She is truly a team manager. Team manager, that's what I call her. She is our point of reference. Laura is a woman with balls, someone who really knows what she wants, what she needs, she has that determination that pushes you to give it your all. She's very good".

What season will the next one be like?

“I hope to see the growth of Lorenzo Dalla Porta. Apart from the season finale, I hoped and thought something more for him. But now I am hopeful that he will grow. And then there is Roberts ".

What do you expect from him?

"It was our choice because we believe in him. I think he can do great things. At the first test he went fast. Immediately. We have a strong team again this year ".

How do you see next year's world championship going?

“For us, in Moto2, it will be a good but difficult year, confirming what you did is never easy. But we will certainly all give our best, we want to continue working in the best way as we have done ”.

"In 2021 I would like a world championship with Marquez. Rossi remains one of the top 5 MotoGP riders"

And in MotoGP?

"It is difficult because of the conditions we are experiencing, but I hope it will go back to being a normal world championship, that is, with non-European races, with all the races. And with Marquez. We have to see when and how he will return. It will be a bit of a strange world championship. But the last one was good fun with so many different winners, it wasn't that bad. Maybe more fun than having just one boss in the world championship ".

Who will win the next one?

"I don’t know. For me, Valentino is always one of the best five in Moto GP. And it won't be easy to replace him. There is Morbidelli and Bagnaia, who are world champions too. They can do it”.

How much does Covid affect everything? Does it scare you?

“Covid was one of the things that could stop us. I was very determined with my parents. I said: 'Guys, we need to be very reserved, united, let go of the things that don't matter, let's not go out and about, let's stay at home'. It wasn’t easy, always with the mask, and then with the fear which is really stressful ”.

Fausto Gresini is now struggling with Covid…

"After the last test we came back together. Always very attentive, always scrupulous. He is a friend, he is really tough. It is a feeling that goes beyond, it is harder than work, stronger than joys, more than anything. I took refuge in Lugano. In Voghera I have everything, even a lot of the things that bind me to the passion for motorcycles, but since this second wave began I have taken refuge in Lugano, I feel safer ”.

Is MotoGP getting closer to Formula 1? Too many rules?

“Yes, from that point of view what is the real prototype of the bike is being lost. In recent years they have been trying to level things out. I call them limitations, they are those given by too much electronics, even by the tyres. When there is a single manufacturer there is no competitiveness. If you don't compete with each other for the best product, some things get lost. If you do something different, then that's not good. Ducati might have dominated otherwise. But this is not possible ”.

 

 

 

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