The 'Beast' Enea Bastianini took his maiden win at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli last season, and the Italian began his home GP well by topping the timesheets on Friday. With rival Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) then showing his rhythm with a run of fast laps in FP3, the race looked set to be between two horses and it proved the case as Sunday dawned. Bastianini, whose 2015 win was taken at the final corner, tried to repeat the move but just found himself unable to find the inside line.
Enea Bastianini (P2): “Binder maintained a good pace throughout the race, and today he really made the difference. When I was following him closely, maybe it could appear that it was easy for me, but only because I didn’t want to pass him in the long straight to not break the rhythm: by doing so we were able to open a gap on the other riders. Later, in the final stages of the race, I passed Binder to take the lead, but then he was good to pass me again, winning the race. Too bad only for the final attack: I felt strong enough in the last corner, and after his pass I was already thinking to fight back on that corner. Brad was good to close the inside line though, and it was not possible to pass. Now I'm second in the championship: Binder is far away, so the goal is to keep the second position, but as long as we have a possibility, we will always try to attack, till the end!”.