New Sepang circuit absolute MotoGP lap record holder Enea Bastianini has left the Malaysian circuit delighted with his progress during two days of track action there.
Heading to Sepang with the newly-independent Gresini Racing squad intent on concentrating on time attack mode – something facilitated by a lack of development work on his year-old Ducati – Bastianini smashed that goal along with the unofficial lap record set by Danilo Petrucci back in 2019.
Ending the day fractionally ahead of Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro (by a mere 0.026s), the former Moto2 world champion admitted afterwards that he had surprised himself with his final position if not with his speed.
“I didn’t expect to be first today,” he admitted, “but I expected to be fast, because when I tried this bike for the first time in Jerez I could see a very nice potential. Also in Gresini, the team is working very well – it’s incredible. Here in Malaysia we’ve worked very well from yesterday and we have stayed fast from the start.
“We did one time attack and I am in first position. It is incredible for all the team, but it is more the test [overall].
“We have now Mandalika, a new track for everyone, and this is more indicative than here. But I wasn’t happy when I saw the time, because I went long in the last corner, and the [1m]57[s] was very close! It was possible, but I didn’t do it!”
Strong last year in race pace and able to rapidly make progress through the field once the lights went out, it still felt like Bastianini was missing out on even better results by hampering himself on Saturday, something that he went into the winter break well-aware of.
He planned on beginning his work on fixing those issues with a V4 Panigale road bike until circumstances got in the way, and therefore instead went to Sepang with a lot to do – but managed to make the progress he was hoping for.
“During the winter, my plan was to go to Jerez,” he explained, “but I was with COVID. So I only had mental training for the time attack!
“I have to learn, and we had a plan to put in three soft tyres to be fast and to understand the soft because always for me it’s been difficult, and the important thing for me is to be fast during qualifying.
“Always during the race I can battle for the first group or for the top five, but always I’m starting from 15th or 17th, and this is a problem in MotoGP. With this bike it’s more easy, and when I put in a new tyre, the rear is more stable, I can open the throttle more early with respect to the 2019 bike.”
But while he might have achieved his goals over one lap thanks in part to a substantially better motorcycle than the two-year-old machine he was riding previously, Bastianini is also aware that there is still plenty of potential left to find in the next three days of testing at the new Mandalika circuit in Indonesia next weekend.
“The 2021 bike, with respect to the 2019 bike, is very easy to ride,” the Italian explained. “The bike of last year had always a lot of pumping in every track and a lot of shaking on the straights, and all the free practice the bike was different. Every time I went outside on this one it was the same, it’s more constant and it’s more fast. You can correct any errors and the bike is stable.
Kicking up a storm in Sepang 😎 @Bestia23's top spot sends a warning shot heading to Mandalika 👊 #SepangTest pic.twitter.com/fp0ACLx65r
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) February 6, 2022
“When I see the data, when I see Jack [Miller], Pecco [Bagnaia], Jorge Martin, I have to improve in the middle of the corner. I’m aggressive on entering corners, but with this bike the potential is in exiting the corners and I have to be faster in the exit of the corner.”
However, while Bastianini’s laptime might have come partly as a result of not having to focus on development work, fellow Ducati rider Johann Zarco was adamant that it was much more down to the Italian’s pace – and fully believes he could have managed the same time even if he had been riding the GP22 machine that remains very much still in development.
“I think the 2022 bike is almost ready,” Zarco said when asked by The Race, “and the difference that Enea did today and yesterday is more something he did by himself. Even if he could ride the 2022 [Desmosedici], I think he would have done the same good job.
“I followed him for a bit and you can tell he was riding with big confidence. It’s nice to see. When you have less than three tenths difference between 10 guys, you can think about the bike but you also have to think about the rider. For very small things you can be there or not, and I think with the 2022 bike a high 1m57s was possible, but I could not reach it.”
