Enea Bastianini Sprint podium surprise: "Incredible! After that bacteria… I’m faster!"

Enea Bastianini celebrated a shock debut KTM rostrum in Saturday’s Brno Sprint race at the Czech Republic MotoGP in Brno, just one week after missing the German round due to severe food poisoning.

Still recovering from a brutal bout of bacterial infection that was initially mistaken for appendicitis, the Tech3 rider charged from the third row to finish just half-a-second behind factory KTM star Pedro Acosta.

Bastianini was only 1.3s adrift of race winner Marc Marquez, the rider who took over his factory Ducati seat, although the title leader backed off to let Acosta lead while he raised his front tyre pressure.

Either way, Bastianini had not finished in the top six since swapping a Desmosedici, with which he won seven races over four seasons, for the RC16 this year.

But the return to Brno, off the calendar since 2020, when KTM won its first MotoGP race, gave Bastianini the reset he needed.

“It's absolutely incredible,” Bastianini told MotoGP.com after the Sprint. “From the start of the season to now has been very complicated.”

“Today we did an incredible job, but also yesterday, after that small ‘injury’ in the hospital, and after that bacteria - I don’t know - something has changed, I’m faster!

“I'm so happy for all of this. Tomorrow we’ll try again in the long race.”

Reflecting on what had often been a miserable opening eleven rounds prior to Brno, the Italian, who also lost 3kg due to the food poisoning, said:

“It’s difficult because when you are behind and you try everything and nothing works, you start to think a bit about your situation. But I never stayed frustrated. Never. And I think this is the key.”

Brno’s return meant Bastianini arrived at a track without any memories of riding a Ducati, something he believes played to his advantage.

“Starting from yesterday morning, I saw the potential of my bike,” he explained. “And not having any reference from the past was good.

“Now I think we need to improve for the second part of the race for tomorrow, especially managing the front tyre. But the direction is a good one and we will try to continue like this.”

Acosta and Bastianini gave KTM its first top-three results of the season, after Maverick Vinales was demoted by a tyre pressure penalty in Qatar.

Stand-in team-mate Pol Espargaro, replacing the injured Vinales this weekend, completed a memorable day for Tech3 with ninth place, and the final point, during his first race of 2025.