Enea Bastianini wraps up his first season as a factory team rider for Ducati this weekend. It’s been a year marked by many physical issues that kept him off the track for several months, although it had the high point of a victory in Malaysia.
The Italian emphasized his desire to end the season on a positive note despite the various difficulties: ‘We have reached the last race of the season. It’s been a really complicated year for us, and I’d like to close it out in the best possible way’.
After a round in Qatar that didn’t go his way, Bastianini hopes to find good speed right from the start in Valencia, as he stated: ‘Last weekend in Qatar, we took a long time to find our speed: on Friday, we were out of Q2 because of the yellow flags, and on Saturday morning, I was held up in Q1 by another rider, but in any case, I didn’t have the same pace as the others. Then, on Sunday, in the second half of the race, my feeling changed, and I was able to have a competitive pace. The team is working these days to understand why, and in Valencia, we’ll try to be fast already from Friday’s free practice’.