Gresini Racing Team Moto3’s Enea Bastianini had a positive weekend at MotorLand Aragon, qualifying in pole position and then finishing third in the race. Even so, there was a slight tinge of disappointment for the Italian rider after he missed out on the victory at the very end of a race he was leading. Jorge Navarro, winner of the race, and Brad Binder, who was crowned World Champion thanks to his second place finish, both overtook Bastianini before he crossed the finish line.
On the final lap, the Italian was leading the race at the beginning of the long straight before the final corner, but Navarro and Binder then passed the 18 year-old rider from Rimini. He tried to fight back taking the inside line, but concluded the final sprint in third.
For Bastianini it was his fifth podium finish of the season, the second in consecutive Grands Prix weekends.
Enea Bastianini (P3): “In the early laps of the race I was in the lead along with Navarro and we pushed a lot in an attempt to pull a gap on the other riders. I noticed on the big screen that we were opening a little gap, so I followed Jorge without disturbing him, letting him do his pace. Binder and other riders, however, managed to come back in, so at that point I decided to relax and to preserve tyres, still trying to remain always in the top three positions to avoid risking too much.
“I knew that Binder was very fast on the long straight before the final corner, but on the last lap I saw that behind me there was Navarro, so I pushed hard to try to gain a few meters, thinking that perhaps Jorge would not be as fast as Binder. Binder managed to pass me and Jorge at the end of the straight though, taking an outside line. I gave my best taking the inside line, but I was already at the limit with the bike that was moving a lot and so it was not possible to win. Too bad, we are often fighting for victory but for some reason we have not yet managed to take one this season. We must continue to work hard to succeed!”