Enea Bastianini – Unleashing the beast
Words by Eric Johnson. Photos by Vaclav Duska Jr, courtesy Monster Energy
There’s no doubt that Ducati Lenovo Team MotoGP competitor Enea Bastianini is fighting for racing survival during the 2024 MotoGP World Championship season. And who better to understand just how tough it is it to make it to the top, and remain there, than five-time Grand Prix World Champion Mick Doohan
“The pointy end of MotoGP is always tough,” explained Doohan, the 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 FIM 500cc World Champion, who competed for Honda during his spectacular Grand Prix career. “They (team bosses, sponsors, fans even) want to see you perform. There are so many people, especially in MotoGP, wanting to break into the top level that the pressure is always on those guys to perform. In MotoGP, nobody’s position is ever secure. There is always a lot of pressure. That is what Enea Bastianini is experiencing right now.”
Competing for the Gresini Racing organization during the 2020 MotoGP season, Bastianini won four Grand Prix, and in becoming the breakout sensation of the campaign, was shuffled over and hired on to the Ducati Lenovo Team to pair with reigning World Champion Francesco Bagnaia for the 2023 MotoGP World Championship.
“It’s a dream come true to race for Ducati,” said “The Beast” of becoming a member of the Bologna-based motor company. “I’m born with an idea to be a MotoGP rider, no? I want to be like the great MotoGP riders. I think to now be in MotoGP with Ducati it is very, very beautiful to realize this dream.”
All things considered, however, the 2023 Grand Prix season for the rider out of Rimini was blighted by crashes, mistakes and even struggles to adjust to the new Ducati GP23 works bike. A shoulder blade injury suffered at the opening Grand Prix of Portugal took Bastianini out of the first five GPs. The Italian never truly recovered as the season wore on, “La Bestia” tumbling down the points tables to finish the year in 15th position. Completely aware of the hopes and expectations placed upon him by Ducati, Bastianini fully realizes 2024 must be a significant improvement.
“Yes, this 2024 is important like all of the years, but this year is probably much more important than the rest of the seasons because it is my second season with the same team and it is important to be consistent during the entire season,” explained Bastianini from the Circuit of the Americas and the Grand Prix of the Americas. “Well, for the moment, I am very happy about the work because we were very close to the victory in the first two races of this year and I think we are ready to keep doing good results.”
Bastianini fired off his 2024 title fight with a strong and steady fifth place finish at Qatar Grand Prix. Round two, the Grand Premio de Portugal, brough a pole position start and a runner-up placing. Round three and the 20-turn, 3.426-mile COTA circuit and the Grand Prix of the Americas saw Bastianini up on the podium with a third-place score. And all along the way, the Italian’s confidence and resolve has grown.
“Yes, exactly. I’m more confident because we did something important and something good at the start of the season. I come from brutal injuries I suffered during the last season and to start with a good foot was important for me this year. This has happened and I am happy at the moment, but we have to continue in that direction and to work very strongly during all of the Grands Prix for the rest of 2024.”
The Ducati Lenovo Team1000cc, 250 horsepower, 346.1 pounds Desmosedici GP24 and its excellent performance and enhanced corner entry speed has optimized Bastianini’s racecraft and confidence.
“This 2024 race bike is very comfortable for me and very fast and I think we can do very quick results with it,” he explained. “It’s early. It’s only the third race right now and things can change from one moment to another. For the moment, things are all good. It is great that the bike performs so well. It is very competitive now. I think the level of MotoGP gets much higher every year. It is incredible how many great riders and how much talent is in MotoGP now.”
Be it fighting to keep his seat at Ducati, giving it everything he has to find a way up and onto the podium at every race and trying to take the measure of the world’s best, most talented Grand Prix riders, it is not easy being a MotoGP. The 2020 Moto2 World Champion spoke about the premier classification.
“No, no, it is not easy to be in MotoGP (laughter). To be a great MotoGP rider is not easy. You have to stay very focused in every session and in every race and in every condition and sometimes it is difficult, but if you want to be the leader, you have to do this.”
2022 and 2023 MotoGP World Champion Francesco Bagnaia has proven to be an excellent teammate to Bastianini inside the Ducati box.
“The feeling with my teammate is very beautiful because I have known ‘Pecco’ from when he was really young and it is beautiful to be together with me and in the same team with Ducati,” said the 26 year-old. “He is a two-time MotoGP World Champion and I can learn a lot from him. For the moment we have done a really good job and I also hope to see both of us doing a good job in the future.”
The competition fierce and track position of critical importance in MotoGP, word from inside the Ducati camp has demanded Bastianini be aggressive. Enea agrees, but in a calculated fashion.
“It depends. Aggressive not in the riding style because it is important to be soft and close with the bike. I have to be more aggressive in the approach, you know? I need to be more aggressive during the sprint races because sometimes I need more time to bring the true confidence to myself. I think I have made a really good step this year. We have seen for the moment in the qualifying and I am now more faster at the at the start of the race now. I think I can improve a little bit more.”
Arguably the most high-profile and admired race team in the MotoGP classification, Bastianini is quite cognizant of the fact that he must fight for his race life if he plans to remain with the Ducati Lenovo Team in 2025 and beyond.
“The plan is to stay, but it depends on many things and I think I always need to be on top if I want to remain in that Ducati seat,” reasoned Bastianini after powering to an excellent third place finish at the Grand Prix of the Americas in Texas. “I know that Ducati GP24 is the best bike now. For the rest of the season I think we have to remain focused and to enjoy all of the races and to see step-by-step what we can do. I think 2024 will be much easier compared to 2023. That season was a disaster for me. Of course, this 2024 season will be much better. I think we can win races and we can fight for the championship, but that championship is very long and is not easy, but I think we can be right there at the end.”
Sidebar:
Down On the Upside: Mick Doohan Speaks
In 1989, Honda hired rookie Mick Doohan to race an NSR500 in the Grand Prix World Championship. The rest is history. In 117 race starts, the former concrete labourer from the Gold Coast of Australia went out and won five consecutive World Championships and 54 Grands Prix. From his home in Australia, where he keeps an eye on his son Jack’s fledgling Formula 1 career, Doohan spoke of Ducati’s Enea Bastianini and the ups-and-downs he has faced in MotoGP.
“In that game, especially with Ducati, you think you’re never, ever secure anyway. For Enea, I think he just sort of continues to do what he did on the weekends at Portugal and the Circuit of the Americas where he rode the best he could and placed on the podium.
“Enea is performing well. In any team you need to perform and you need to outperform your teammate, and if you do that, normally you’re going to retain your seat. That’s in any team and it is good to have that type of competition to keep developing the bike and to keep pushing each other. “At the moment, Enea has been able to take it to take it to his teammate Francesco Bagnaia, which is good. It’s good for Ducati. Enea needs to try and keep himself in good health. It’s hard to go racing if you’re sitting in the hospital. Look, there is no shadow of a doubt that Enea can ride a bike, and he’s come out of the box fairly strong so far this year. Let’s hope for his sake that he can continue on with that trajectory at the moment and challenge for the MotoGP World Championship.”