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Enea Bastianini will be directly accessing tomorrow's Q2, as he ends his Friday in Barcelona in an 8th position, just under half a second from Aleix Espargarò's time. A good result, considering that the morning at Montmelò hadn't gone well at all, and Enea was confined to the second half of the ranking. But the Beast did well with his team, finding the solution that made his Ducati work, so as to at least manage to avoid the very dangerous Q1 trap.
"I'd say that the day didn't start off well at all," Enea said. "I got on the track and was immediately slow, and I couldn't really push. As soon as I tried to push harder, the bike was moving so much, I felt little grip, especially on the front. I expected to have little grip on the rear. Instead, I never imagined having this problem on the front. So, I had to adapt a little bit and try to change my riding style."
But you were then able to change things.
"The afternoon was better, especially from the middle of the session on. I progressed, and I'm happy. My goal was to get into the Q2, and I did it, but I still lack something if I want to be with those up front."
At least you didn't freak out after an uninspiring FP1.
"I'm happy that I didn't get nervous right away. When you get far behind, staying calm isn't easy. It's bad. We worked well, and that rewarded me. It was very important to succeed, because starting up front is crucial now."
Do you have any ideas on how to improve the bike for tomorrow?
"I know what areas I need to improve, but I don't know whether to take another step in the direction I took today or do something different. I'll look at the data later to get a better idea of what to do, but at least I know we're working well, and I'll see if I can close this gap."
You're a rider who knows how to preserve tires well. Will that help in the race here?
"Actually, this is a track where tire wear is very high, but I've never been able to preserve the tires well towards the end of the race. So, I'll have to see ... I mean, I didn't have to preserve anything last year! Let's say it's going to be crucial to stay there and not push too much towards the middle of the race, because I think the last two or three laps will be really difficult, also given how it went this morning with the worn tires."
You were afraid you were going to have to race defensively, but you actually can attack here as well.
"I'm here to attack, to keep going. I want to be fast everywhere without thinking too much. Corners are corners on all tracks anyway, and you just have to deal with them the best you can."
