KTM ace Enea Bastianini (9th) simply didn’t think twice when overtaking

Enea Bastianini’s Sachsenring weekend got off to a disappointing start: the KTM Tech3 rider failed to score any points in the Sprint. In the Grand Prix, he initially lost a position at the start but then worked his way up the field bit by bit. He benefited from retirements ahead of him, engaged in a battle with Franco Morbidelli (Ducati) and later overtook Diogo Moreira (Honda) and Brad Binder (KTM) as well. He eventually finished 9th, his seventh top-10 result of the season. This moved him up to 12th in the World Championship standings with 76 points. Notably, the lap times he set in the final third of the race would have seen him competing at the front.

Enea Bastianini reveals his overtaking secret

At 3.671 kilometres in length, the Sachsenring is the shortest circuit and, as experience shows, offers little room for overtaking manoeuvres. Bastianini, however, rejects the excuse that it is difficult to overtake at the Sachsenring: “You can overtake; it’s just difficult. If you ride in someone’s slipstream here, the front tyre gets hotter.” This causes instability in the front tyre, he explains, so you also have to keep an eye on the tyre pressure.

After a few laps, he worked out how to get round the problem. “If I try to study the rider in front of me, it’s too late by the time the opportunity to overtake arises. I just go for it straight away, without thinking about the moment.” But that also carries risks: “It’s not easy not to study your rival, because then you can make a mistake.”

Willkommen zum Rennen am Sachsenring

Foto: Gerhard Schiel

Grid Girls

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Jorge Martin

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Fans

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Marc Márquez

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Paddock

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Paddock

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Fabio Di Giannantonio

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Start des Rennens

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Start des Rennens

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Blick auf die Strecke

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Fabio Quartararo

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Alex Márquez

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Martin und Bagnaia

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Fans

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Fernández und Ogura

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Pedro Acosta

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Paddock

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Luca Marini

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Marc Márquez

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Pecco Bagnaia

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Binder und Moreira

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Marc Márquez gewinnt das Rennen

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Ai Ogura, Marc Márquez, Raúl Fernández

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Willkommen zum Rennen am Sachsenring

© Gerhard Schiel

The limit is the KTM RC16 – Bastianini isn’t at his limit yet

Even though 9th place sounds like a solid result, Bastianini isn’t satisfied. He wanted to capitalise more on the positive trend, but didn’t manage to do so. Tyre wear during the race wasn’t the main problem, but the first ten laps certainly were. Like his rivals, he struggled with understeer: “When you’re going through corners 5 to 7 and want to turn in, but the front end isn’t responding, that’s a problem – because you mustn’t let the rear tyre start to slide, otherwise after five laps you’re done for.”

When asked about the physical strain of riding the RC16, Bastianini confirmed: “Our bike is very hard, that’s for sure.” He had worked hard both in winter and summer to be ready at all times. “We don’t have much stability. As far as I’m concerned, I’m okay – that’s not my limit.”