Bastianini wants to overcome his limitations, while Tech3 prepares to choose between KTM and Honda

The Romagna rider confirms he’s good at making comebacks, but he wants to take a step forward in qualifying: will the Catalonia GP be the right opportunity to improve?

On Sunday, Enea Bastianini arrived on the MotoGP grid eager for redemption after retiring on lap six of the sprint race. He wanted a good result to close out the weekend at Le Mans and in the end he grabbed seventh place, 859 thousandths behind Fabio Quartararo. Considering he started from the fourteenth slot on the grid, it was a good finish, though with a slight regret at not managing to overtake the Yamaha rider as well.

But the biggest regret concerns qualifying. Having failed to gain direct access to Q2, he had to go through Q1 and there he couldn’t do better than fourth-fastest, condemning himself to start from the fifth row. Starting further ahead, things might have gone a bit differently, given that in the long race he showed good pace.

Even though he would have liked a better result, Bastianini tries to look on the bright side: "It was a nice comeback. On Saturday I crashed twice, so the main goal was to make up positions and bring the bike to the finish. In the end, seventh place isn’t bad, but I expected a little more."

The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider explained the difficulties he faced at Le Mans and clearly indicated the area where he needs to make progress: "With the soft rear tire, it was hard to push. There was a lot of movement and for me it’s difficult to manage that instability. Especially at the end of the race, I wasn’t as fast as usual. It’s not easy, because the competition is very strong, but we know which aspects we need to work on. For my part, I have to keep working on qualifying: I’ve improved a bit, but we still need to do more."

The time attack had already been an issue for him in 2025, and Bastianini knows he has to take a step forward. He still doesn’t have the feeling he wants with the RC16, which in France gave him some trouble due to excessive movement generated by using the soft rear tire. There’s work to be done in the box. The rider from Rimini is convinced he can fight with Pedro Acosta, KTM’s best rider so far, but he needs to sort out a few things. We’ll see if he makes the desired step in Barcelona.

While Bastianini is tipped for the Gresini Ducati in 2027, with Aprilia Trackhouse as the alternative, the Tech3 team finds itself deciding between renewing its contract with KTM and a new venture with Honda.

CEO Guenther Steiner clarified an important point on Sky Sport MotoGP: "We will choose whoever allows us to improve as a team in the future. We want a partner, not just a supplier of bikes and mechanics. We can help a manufacturer improve, that’s what we want to do, but the manufacturer has to believe in us." This month will certainly be decisive for negotiations. Not to forget the ongoing talks between manufacturers and the MotoGP Entertainment Group (formerly Dorna Sports) to sign the 2027–2031 five-year contract. Once that is announced, there will then be announcements regarding the rider-team market.

If you like Corsedimoto’s content, you can select our site as your preferred source by clicking HERE