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Third in the overall standings after the GP of Austria, Enea Bastianini arrives at the Motorland of Aragon with the clear intention of gaining more important placings and trying to take another victory after the two he obtained earlier this month at Silverstone. A complex mission but within the reach of the Rimini native, who in 2022 scored his fourth MotoGP success after an intense duel with his current teammate, Francesco Bagnaia.
"We had a good battle here in Aragon in 2022. I remember we made some mistakes in the race and we were on the limit already that year. So, I think this year it will be even more difficult to take another step forward because the level is really high. We are all Ducati riders and all of us can win - Enea commented at the press conference - We have to start well. In Austria something did not work properly, but here we will have to restart and do something more."
Thanks to his ability to manage the tires, the Lenovo Ducati team rider could benefit from the new, very abrasive asphalt of the Aragonese circuit.
"For sure, it will be very abrasive at the beginning and we will wear out the tires a lot. But I expect it to improve over the weekend and we will have a normal situation on Sunday. The asphalt may change something, but it will be the same for all the riders and we will have to check the tires and try different options to figure out what to use during the race. Usually, we always use the harder compound on the front and here we have a new specification like in Austria, where it was too dangerous to use, though. Here there will be a few more degrees during the weekend, so it will be important to try it and do some laps with it," Bastianini noted.
"I'm not the only one who can handle the end of the race well, but usually yes, it can be an advantage. As I said, we don't know what it will be like and there have been tracks where I have consumed as much as others, and sometimes even more, so it's not a given," he added, convinced that the new asphalt will not give big problems even in case of rain: "Maybe it will slip more than on other tracks but I believe in the work done on the track."
Asked about the situation in the standings,the 26-year-old then expressed his opinion that he could take advantage of some tension between Bagnaia and Martin, being the one who has the least to lose among the title contenders.
"First of all, I don't think the others are more tense, I see them calm, so they won't have any problems. Pecco has handled all the championships very well and he will do it again this year. Jorge has suffered a little more in the past, but I expect that he has learned his lesson," he admitted, "In any case, they are always up front fighting and of course I will always be the first to believe."
Speaking instead about the news about the calendar for next season, Enea appeared to be quite more in favor of returning to Brno than starting from Buriram.
"It will be very hot in Thailand and it will be complicated to start there. We will have to get there very physically prepared, but it will be nice - he noted - Brno is one of my favorite circuits and it will be nice to return there."
Bastianini then concluded by commenting on the possibility that F1 and MotoGP could race on the same weekend and on the same circuit.
"It would be nice to do in the future and I think it could be interesting for us to do something different as well, because it can create more excitement," he said, " MotoGP has done a big job in the last two or three years and it seems to have something like that in mind in the future. We'll see."
