The Austin circuit has always been successful for Enea Bastianini. He finished among the top seven in each of his MotoGP appearances and even won in 2022. The 2025 edition will be no exception to the rule.
After a more than sluggish start to the season, Bastianini inherited third place in the sprint in Texas, then took sixth place in the main race. However, he was only 12th on the grid after a fall in Q2, and his start to the race was not easy, since he had contact with Johann Zarco on the second lap.
The Frenchman was the one who lost the most in the affair, since he fell, but Bastianini also suffered the effects of the contact.
“After contact with Johann, my airbag went off and for one lap it was very hard to ride!”commented Bastianini, forced to deal with discomfort during too many turns: “It deflated but it’s not immediately, you have to wait a bit. I’ve maybe done half a lap like that, but that’s normal.”
Despite these mishaps, Bastianini was still 12th after the first laps. Overtakes on Raúl Fernández and FermÃn Aldeguer, the long-lap of Marc Márquez and the fall of Joan Mir allowed him to quickly enter the top 10. He remained eighth for a long time before his race came alive again in the last third.
“I tried to ride at my own pace and lap after lap I tried to close the gap with the rider in front,” Bastianini explained. He was able to do so and overtook Lex Márquez… but was overtaken by the latter’s brother, just as Ai Ogura retired.
Enea Bastianini long lost with Marc Marquez in Austin.
Photo de: David Buono / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Bastianini stayed in contact with Marc Márquez and tried twice to regain the advantage, but the Spaniard was able to respond each time, then they both took advantage of Pecco Bagnaia’s worries to swallow him up at the end of the race. The Tech3 driver suffered in his duel with Márquez but he took a good sixth place.
“It was really hard. He was really attacking, especially in the last three laps. It wasn’t very easy to stay with him. I was trying to get closer to him at turn 11 to overtake him at turn 12 but we were lacking a bit of acceleration.”
“For the rest, we were efficient in braking and I can be satisfied with this weekend. I just made a mistake in qualifying and that penalized me a little for this race but regardless, it’s good to find the fight at the front again.”
Bastianini relaunches Tech3
Tech3 experienced a paradoxical weekend in Austin since the French team was quickly deprived of Maverick Viñales, who withdrew after FP1, but Bastianini’s good weekend allowed him to finally launch his season. Tech3 took 17 points in two days, compared to five over the first two weekends of the season combined, and it only owes this to Bastianini’s leap forward.
“We are very happy with our weekend in Austin”welcomed Nicolas Goyon, the team manager of Tech3. “The team leaves with smiles on their faces, which is a relief after two complicated races. I would like to congratulate Enea for his work throughout the weekend. It was good to see him enjoying the bike, gaining confidence and producing a good race.”
“He improved his pace and worked his way up to fighting with Pecco [Bagnaia] and Marc Márquez, which was good to see. Third in the sprint and sixth in the main race, these are positive results for us in Austin.”
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