Enea Bastianini greets Assen with a third step of the podium conquered today with a bittersweet taste. Like yesterday in the Sprint, also today the Beast was the protagonist of an impressive comeback, which led him to pass one after the other almost all rivals until savoring a podium that at first seemed a mirage. A pity that qualifying went so badly for Enea, who always puts on display a reference race pace that would allow him to constantly fight for victory with starts from better positions on the grid.
The icing on the cake was the overtaking of Marc Marquez, the rider who will inherit Enea's bike in the Ducati box in 2025. It was an aggressive but clean maneuver that allowed him to take a fully deserved podium in Assen for the first time in MotoGP.
"I had a lot of fun, but when you're on a motorcycle it's different! -told Enea in the conference - Because you don't just have fun, but you also risk a lot. It was more difficult than yesterday in the Sprint, because starting 10th I got to the first corner very outside and several riders closed the door in my face. It took me a few laps before I started passing my rivals, in the last part of the race I realized that I could have been on the podium and I gave everything to succeed. Fortunately, it went well and I'm here."
Didn't you have fun?
"Let's say I suffered but had fun, the overtaking was all very borderline because it's not an easy track, it was windy and it was late in the race so the tires were running out. Definitely a lot of fun! Fortunately this year in qualifying I'm notdoing so bad, I think I have the bike in hand and I think one step we made.Qualifying didn't go well here, but Pecco was out of my reach.Maybe Jorge starting better would have been a plausible target."
How did overtaking Marquez go?
"We let off the brakes several times all three of us. We were lined up, he first took and then let off the brakes and I did the same thing, it was almost strange. But in the end I was inside, he was on the outside and tried to close the line, but he actually took a bigger risk than me precisely because I was on the inside."
With a better qualification could you have fought with Bagnaia and Martìn?
"For me beating Pecco this time was not my goal, because he had already been very fast since the first free session. Jorge also improved a lot over the course of the weekend. But qualifying for me sometimes is a problem, I often make mistakes during the time attack. But this time my setup was not the best yesterday morning. For the first part of the race today was tough because some riders in front of me had soft tires on the rear and for example Binder in the fast part of the track was too fast for me to try to pass him. I have to make a step to qualify better so that I can always fight for the victory. Because every time in the second part of the race I am as fast as the first ones, but I have to be closer at the beginning."
You did a lot of overtaking, which ones were the most difficult?
"Binder was the toughest to pass, as always. He brakes very late and then always looks for weird lines. Even with Maverick it was difficult, because he was so fast here. I wouldn't know which bike was the easiest to pass, but for sure the overtakes on Binder and Vinales were the hardest."
The one on Acosta was also good.
"Since yesterday we have improved a lot mi braking. Maybe the most difficult overtaking was just the one on Pedro, because I had to turn it in a handkerchief. So maybe the biggest satisfaction came from that."
You've been following the KTMs, your next bike, for a long time. What idea did you get?
"I got an idea of the KTM, but it has to be said that they were the only ones with soft. Let's say I saw some merits, but maybe with different tires it would have been different. At the moment the Ducati is perhaps working better, but we certainly also have a very fast package of riders and that allows us to improve each other."
There are three Ducati GP24s on the podium, can you explain how different it is from the 23?
"I removed the 2023, I don't remember! Just kidding of course. For me the GP24 is not much better, it has been since the beginning of the season especially on entry. Sometimes we have a hair less grip on the rear, but on tracks like this for example this thing helps me. In my opinion the difference is very small."
You didn't win, but are you going home happy?
"When I go home I will be less happy. Here you know, I got on the podium ... but by starting better I know I could have done much better. When you are on the podium you should never be sad, but winning is something else. At Mugello I saw it as a possibility to win, I think we are at a good point. It's just that we have to hurry up because I'm tired of it. We have to have a proper weekend from start to finish. Sachsenring was never a track where I shined, but you never know. We'll definitely be competitive, for the win we'll see."
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