Bastianini refuses to give up: one last gift before saying goodbye to KTM

The Rimini-born rider finished the Qatar GP on a positive note, but he won't settle for that: can he return to the podium in the final races on the RC16? 

Enea Bastianini has enjoyed two fairly positive weekends between Sepang and Lusail. He finished the sprint races ninth and eighth, respectively, while he came fifth in both full-length races. He has finished in the top five on a Sunday just three times in the 2026 MotoGP season; the other occasion came at Motegi, where he finished fourth.

Given the difficulties the rider from Romagna has faced riding the RC16 over the past two years, this can be considered a generally good spell for him. In Qatar, he was also the top KTM rider, having managed to get past Pedro Acosta, who had to contend with tyre pressure issues in the full-length race.

The 2020 Moto2 world champion had hoped to fight for a podium at Lusail, but he had to contend with a really frustrating problem on his RC16: "The start was good - reports Motosan - and I was in a good position at the first corner. In the middle part of the race, I tried to fight for the podium, but the most difficult part was getting through the left-hand corners, because the bike was vibrating a lot. This problem got much worse compared with Saturday, and I had to fight it mentally because I lost my rhythm and was disoriented by the end".

Bastianini thought he could stay with Marc Marquez and challenge for the podium, but he couldn't match the Ducati rider's pace and ultimately had to settle for fifth: "At one point in the race - he explains - I tried to stay calm to save the tyres for the closing stages. When Marc upped his pace, I tried to push, but his pace was better than mine and there was nothing I could do".

Finishing in the top five is by no means a bad result, but the Rimini-born rider is particularly keen to get back on the podium: "We can't complain too much, but I'm a little frustrated because I've been trying to fight for the podium lately and haven't managed it. In any case, we have to keep trying, because I want to give this podium to my team".

The races at Portimao and Valencia will be his last two with the KTM Tech3 team, after which he will move to the Aprilia of the Trackhouse team. Although his two years riding the RC16 have been more challenging than he expected, and he can't wait to begin a new chapter in his MotoGP career, he is also highly motivated to bring his time with his current team to a positive close.

In 2026, he has reached the podium only in the Austin sprint race, while in 2025 he did so in the sprint at Brno and the full-length race at Barcelona. It's a modest tally that he would like to improve slightly in the final races of the season.

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