Bastianini gets angry again, this time with Morbidelli: a penalty is issued

The VR46 rider caused a problem for his compatriot during Practice at the TT Circuit: the penalty was inevitable.

In Brno it was Toprak Razgatlioglu who held him up during Qualifying; at Assen it was Franco Morbidelli during Pre-Qualifying. Over the last two MotoGP rounds, Enea Bastianini has encountered obstacles during his time attacks and, unsurprisingly, got angry on both occasions. It couldn’t be otherwise—every rider reacts negatively when they find a colleague moving slowly on the racing line who shouldn’t be there.

In this case as well, a penalty was issued, the same one given to Razgatlioglu in the Czech Republic: Morbidelli will be demoted three positions on the starting grid for Sunday’s MotoGP race.

Fortunately for Bastianini, the lap on which he was held up by his compatriot was not decisive. He later managed a time attack that earned him eighth place and thus direct access to Q2 in Qualifying. That’s very important: as we know, starting from the front rows makes both the sprint race and the long race easier. Several times Enea has condemned himself to start quite far back and has failed to achieve a result in line with his real potential. On some occasions he still did well to fight back through the field, but comebacks often demand extra effort from the tires, and you can pay the price at the end of the race. We’ll see if he can clinch one of the first three rows at Assen.

As for Morbidelli, he missed out on the top 10 in Practice by a small margin, ending up with the eleventh fastest time. He will have to go through Q1 on Saturday morning. He seems in shape to target one of the two remaining spots for Q2, but he’ll need to work well with the Pertamina Enduro VR46 team to avoid missing the goal. Given the penalty for Sunday, it becomes crucial to try to set the best possible lap time in Qualifying.