KTM Tech3 rider Enea Bastianini caused a surprise: “Finally back in Q2!”

Enea Bastianini brought a huge sense of relief to the Red Bull KTM Tech3 garage at Motegi on Friday. Background: The 28-year-old Italian, riding the RC16 managed by the French team, confidently secured 5th place, earning him a direct spot in the second qualifying session on Saturday. This followed a dry spell lasting several months – Enea Bastianini’s last direct entry into Q2 was at Assen at the end of June.

‘La Bestia’ was in eighth place just moments before the end of the session and was therefore still in serious danger of slipping out of the top 10. But then he stepped it up again, closing the gap to fastest-lap setter Alex Márquez (Gresini-Ducati) to just 0.349 seconds on his final attempt. He was consequently less than two tenths behind his team-mate Pedro Acosta . “It was a really good day. The afternoon in particular went well this time,” the Italian summed up. “I was also surprised at how long the tyres last here.”

Bastianini explained: “We usually have problems on Fridays; we often have to change tyres repeatedly and then experience quite varied tyre performance. This time I was able to set a better time on the very last lap, so from that perspective it looks good.”

The rider from the Adriatic coast described: “The new surface certainly played a part in that. The grip wasn’t anything special from my point of view. But the surface is very good for tyre durability. We saw a lot of crashes in Moto3 and Moto2. Normally, a compound like that offers good grip – but it’s nothing special. It wasn’t bad for our work in MotoGP.”

Whilst Bastianini put in a strong performance, his team-mate Maverick Viñales struggled. Unsurprisingly, the Spaniard was unable to keep up after months away from racing. Two seconds off the pace, ‘Top Gun’ could only manage 22nd place.

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03.10.2026 - 01:35