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Enea Bastianini probably dreamed that he could actually catch Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia towards the end of the race. He slowly got closer to the two until the gap was under a second to his teammate. At that moment, however, something went wrong and the Beast made an excursion on the outside of the Misano corner that brought him to dial back his attack.
The result was therefore a third place that certainly cannot be called a bad result, but one that perhaps leaves a slightly bitter taste in the mouth. The only really positive aspect is perhaps the gap in the overall standings compared to the leader, because with Martìn's debacle and the 16 points for third place in today's race, Enea has moved to -62 from the leader, thus continuing to cultivate the dream of being able to really get back into contention for the title in this second part of the season.
"It was really nice to see the turn all pink for me during the first laps! - Enea said excitedly - I am happy for this podium, today was complicated. I took some risks to try to close the gap from Marquez and Bagnaia when it started to rain a little bit, but Marc was really fast in some parts of the track. I tried to stay close to both of them, but I suffered a bit with the rear coming out of some corners, so I decided to stay calm also because at turn 12 I went wide when there were 7 laps to go. I took a big risk and told myself there that third place would be okay for the race. I hope I learned something for the future."
Marquez said today it was better to trust the local riders because they understand better when it's going to rain. Is that the case?
"Here when the rain comes you feel a special smell in the air, you feel it on the track as well. Then I saw Pecco pushing ahead and staying on the track, so I said to myself, why not stay with them?"
Maybe today communication between pit and rider would have helped, what do you think?
"I'm not in favor of it, because in my opinion certain decisions should be only of the rider, it depends on what he feels at that moment and in that situation. Whether he has confidence or not. I think the guys who are in the pits can't understand better what the real conditions of the track are. Only a rider can know, and I think it would take even very complex technology to get more information from the pits than we have in the saddle."
You chose the soft rear, maybe that was the problem at the end of the race?
"For me the soft rear was the best choice, because I used the medium on Friday but it was a disaster, especially on the left side. I chose to stay on the safe side and approach the race as I did with the Sprint yesterday without changing anything. But I think maybe the best solution for the race was the medium, because I got to the end of the race in a very critical condition with the rear. I think that's something to work on tomorrow in testing to come more prepared here in Misano for the next race, and I think it will be important to have the same distance performance with the soft as with the medium."
When it started to rain what did you think?
"It was difficult because the track was changing every lap. In some moments it would rain in one spot, then it would change. The curbs were very slippery. At one point I thought about pushing to catch up with the small group in front and Morbidelli crashed right in front of me, so I thought it was better to wait!"
You got a good start today but not great.
"I knew from the beginning that today could be like this for the start of the race, because yesterday I had a great start while today I was a little bit more tucked in. But overall I would say it was a good race. I could only use the soft on the rear, it was really the only choice for me, but I think with the medium it would have maybe been different in the end. Unfortunately on Friday I didn't feel good on it. Tomorrow during testing I would like to understand this, because with the soft I went a second stronger."
Will that be the goal of tomorrow's test?
"Tomorrow if conditions allow I will work on that, I will do some laps with the medium to understand why I couldn't use it today, I think it would have made a difference."
Knowing the track so well, do you think it really helped you?
"I think it helped a little bit, but it could have been different because you also need a little bit of luck. At the end we stayed inside the track and it was really difficult, the bike was moving everywhere, I lost it several times."
Do you believe in this world championship? You are not so far away.
"I definitely believe more in the world championship now than I did before I raced here. It's not easy to counter riders who are always in front. Jorge made the wrong choice, I just couldn't do more today, I really got to the limit at the end. Then trying to stay behind Pecco and Marc I went wide ... anyway I believe in the world championship."
As always you had difficulty overtaking the KTMs, what's your idea of your next bike?
"In my opinion it is difficult to pass the KTMs, the RC16 is always the bike I pass with the most difficulty. Then actually I also see some shortcomings that I will definitely report, now not yet!"
Photocredit ©PierLuca Brunetti
