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His 2025 season was certainly not the easiest, yet Enea Bastianini arrives at the fourth round on the calendar as the second best KTM rider after Brad Binder. Still not perfectly at ease riding a bike that is very different from the Desmosedici he was used to, on the eve of the Qatar round, the Rimini native acknowledged that he had not yet completed his apprenticeship despite the improvement shown over the U.S. weekend.
"Austin was a downhill weekend in that we started with some difficulties, but then on Sunday I was quite competitive. There are some things that cannot be improved overnight, so there will continue to be suffering for a while, but I think we found a way that could help us to be faster," he told the media present at the circuit.
The Romagna rider's apprenticeship in Mattighofen is far from over. "I still need time to better understand the bike," he said, "If Austin had been the first race of the championship certainly I would not have obtained the same result, so anyway personally a step forward I have made, and then obviously there is a lack of useful material to be more effective. I hope it will come at the European rounds."
On the front of the technical solutions too, it's all a work in progress. "Initially I took my own direction, then I moved closer to the preferences of the other KTM riders, and now I'm back on my own path and it seems the best one. Lusail will be crucial to see if we have actually started to square the circle," he admitted.
Regarding the feeling however, there is clarity: "The front end is pretty solid, but in corner entry it tends to struggle to turn and you risk asking too much of it. Straight-line braking, on the other hand, is one of our strengths, and we can make overtakes quite well."
Going from a dominant bike to one that is struggling was a challenge in itself. "Morally I'm still okay, although I had to revise my goals. Now it's important to stay focused. I know we can improve and not finish the races seventh," he confided before dwelling on some of the details of the upcoming weekend.
"Definitely this will be a good track to understand how the RC16 responds in the fast corners, especially the last sector. Usually I have always been competitive in that section and I am curious to find out if I will be again. I know we will have two bikes available, one in standard configuration and the other with upgrades, but I think they are quite similar," were his words.
Finally on the overall critical aspects encountered he claimed, "With the Ducati the approach to the track was completely different, so Friday is the worst day for me since I have to do a kind of reset. However, I think slowly as the season goes on this problem will become less noticeable. In America I was the best of the KTMs because some went out, now I have to take an extra step forward."
