Enea Bastianini finished 8th in the MotoGP sprint at Assen and lost ten seconds to winner Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) on the TT circuit. It is the third event for the former Moto2 Champion since his lengthy injury lay-off with a shoulder injury from Portimao.
In the sprint, Bastianini was able to keep the group of Alex Márquez, Luca Marini and Jack Miller just behind him. “After the Q1 disaster, the race wasn’t so bad,” said “La Bestia”. «We made some changes to the bike. We now understand the situation a little better. I showed a lot of maneuvers and the pace was actually quite good. I wasn’t far from the top in that regard. So I’m quite happy with the race – but not with the result.”
“The goal is the same for Sunday,” said the Lenovo teammate of world champion Pecco Bagnaia. “We want to make up a few places. But the long distance could be a problem, I had a pain in my shoulder. I may have to do something differently. My feeling with the front tire was good. Only at the beginning it was a bit strange in the first four laps. With no traffic in front of me, I was able to put pressure on.”
Bastianini missed a better starting position at midday after a mistake and the ensuing skirmish with Marc Márquez in Q1 and only started from 18th place. “In turn 1 my front wheel almost slipped out, I was just able to save myself. Marc was behind me and had to turn off the gas. Before turn 4 I wanted to make room for the others and drove to the outside. Marc also looked backwards and therefore caught me. That can happen, that’s MotoGP – that’s the way it is. After qualifying, Marc came to my motorhome and apologized.”
Results MotoGP Sprint Assen (24 June):
1. Marco Bezzecchi (I), Ducati, 13 laps in 20:09.174 min
2. Pecco Bagnaia (I), Ducati, +1.294 sec
3. Fabio Quartararo (F), Yamaha, +1.872
4. Aleix Espargaró (E), Aprilia, +2.245
5. Brad Binder* (ZA), KTM, +4.582
6. Jorge Martin (E), Ducati, +5.036
7. Maverick Vinales (E), Aprilia, +5.876
8. Enea Bastianini (I), Ducati, +10.102
9. Alex Marquez (E), Ducati, +10.525
10. Luca Marini** (I), Ducati, +10.556
11. Jack Miller (AUS), KTM, +11.191
12. Takaaki Nakagami (J), Honda, +11.473
13.Johann Zarco (F), Ducati, +15.439
14. Augusto Fernández (S), KTM, +17.754
15. Franco Morbidelli (I), Yamaha, +19.508
16. Lorenzo Savadori (I), Aprilia, +19.664
17. Marc Marquez (E), Honda, +19.916
18. Raul Fernandez (S), Aprilia, +20.583
19. Miguel Oliveira (P), Aprilia, 24.269
20. Iker Lecuona (E), Honda, +24.727
21. Jonas Folger (D), KTM, +32.056
22. Stefan Bradl (D), Honda, +35.372
– Fabio Di Giannantonio (I), Ducati, 10 laps behind
* got 3 sec penalty
** got 0.5 sec penalty
Championship status after 15 of 40 races:
1. Bagnaia, 169 points. 2 Martin 148 3 Bezzecchi 138 4 Zarco 109 5 Binder 101 6 Marini 89 7 Miller 79 8 Quartararo 64 9 Aleix Espargaró 61 10 Viñales 56 11 Alex Marquez 53 12 Morbidelli 50 13 Rins 47 14 Augusto Fernández 36 15 Di Giannantonio 34 16 Oliveira 27 17 Nakagami 26 18 Bastianini 18 19 Marc Marquez 15 20 Pedrosa 13 21 Folger 7 22 Pirro 5 23 Petrucci 5 24 Mir 5 25 Savadori 4 26 Raúl Fernández 4 27 Stefan Bradl 2
Constructors’ Championship:
1. Ducati, 260 points. 2. KTM 140. 3. Aprilia 105. 4. Honda 81. 5. Yamaha 75.
Team World Cup:
1. Prima Pramac Racing, 257 points. 2. Mooney VR46 Racing 227. 3. Ducati Lenovo Team 197. 4. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 180. 5. Aprilia Racing 117. 6. Monster Energy Yamaha 114. 7. Gresini Racing 87. 8. LCR Honda 73. 9. GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3, 43. 10. CryptoDATA RNF 35. 11. Repsol Honda 20.