Bastianini mounts a comeback, but Acosta is out of reach: "Here's my big mistake with the KTM

The gap to Acosta is big, but the Rimini rider’s comeback race is still not to be discarded: will he be closer to his brand-mate at Misano?

Aragon is a track that Enea Bastianini likes; he won there in 2022 with the Gresini team’s Ducati after a duel with Pecco Bagnaia. It was precisely at MotorLand that he also had his best weekend since racing in KTM Tech3 colors: fifth in the sprint and third in the Sunday race in 2025. Last year’s result is also his only Sunday podium with the RC16. In 2026 he hasn’t been able to be as competitive as in the previous MotoGP season.

The only KTM rider able to make a big difference last weekend was Pedro Acosta, fourth on Saturday and second on Sunday. The Rimini native, after disastrous qualifying (17th fastest), finished 14th in the sprint (over 13 seconds behind Acosta) and eighth in the race (almost 24 seconds behind Pedro). His comeback was notable and increases his regrets about not being able to start further up the MotoGP grid.

The 2020 Moto2 world champion was surprised by his Sunday performance and told Sky Sport MotoGP that something had been changed on his RC16: "I wasn’t expecting this kind of race. Evidently, what we did in Warm Up paid off. On Saturday I didn’t feel comfortable, but in the race I managed to ride well from start to finish. Tire drop-off was much lower than in the sprint, I was able to make some overtakes and I had fun."

The race at Aragon is certainly a good omen ahead of the Misano Adriatico Grand Prix (September 11–13), where Bastianini hopes to do even better: "If we bring to Misano what we managed to do this weekend, we could do a bit more. Qualifying could be a limitation, but the fact of racing at Misano on a track I know very well might help me. The Italian riders and I know a few tricks; we’ll try to do well."

In recent days, the Tech3 rider revealed that the engine on his RC16 had not returned to full revs, but there should be no issues at Misano: "I think those extra 500 revs can make the difference, making us suffer less. Now we also have to look at safety and bring our skin home."

The Mattighofen manufacturer had received the green light from the other constructors to fix a reliability issue with its engines, which were “detuned” precisely to try to avoid further failures or other technical problems. Bastianini had a misunderstanding with KTM, which, through Pit Beirer, explained that the interventions had been made on all the RC16s and not just on the factory team bikes. Even if the rider from Romagna didn’t get all the revs at Aragon, he should have them regularly at Misano.

Asked about his future with Aprilia’s SuperFile Trackhouse team, Bastianini said he’s confident he can get back to fighting for better results than those of the past two years: "Winning the championship wouldn’t be bad... That remains the goal, but we have to go step by step. I believe I can be competitive again; that’s something that motivates me. I think I can get back to fighting up front with the leaders."

Even though it’s been a year and a half since he’s been riding the RC16, the 28-year-old from Rimini admits he’s never been able to make it feel like his own: "I got off the best bike and got on a more difficult one—I knew that before I even got on it. I found a bike DNA different from Ducati’s; the most complicated thing was tackling the adaptation process, and I probably never managed to get out of it. I never adapted enough to be fast in every race, even if something good popped up from time to time."

Bastianini acknowledges that he bears some responsibility for not being consistently competitive with the KTM Tech3 team: "I’m someone who blames himself a lot; I definitely made mistakes. Perhaps the biggest was trying to find something the bike couldn’t give me, because it has its own DNA. I was chasing something that wasn’t there." We’ll see if in the final part of the 2026 MotoGP season he manages to get some satisfaction and leave the current team with results more in line with his talent and ambitions. Then an Aprilia will be waiting for him.

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