"Big question mark” over Enea Bastianini answered in Austrian MotoGP

Heading into Austria, the “big question mark” at Red Bull KTM Tech3 was whether Enea Bastianini could repeat his breakthrough form at Brno.

The answer, according to team manager Nicolas Goyon, was a resounding yes.

Although Bastianini didn’t make a return to the Sprint rostrum, he qualified a season-best fifth – beating his previous best by six places – fought back from a bad start for seventh in the Sprint, then delivered his best grand prix performance of the season with fifth.

"The weekend was really strong for him, going to Q2 from Q1, some points in the sprint, all wrapped up by P5, which is what we are expecting from him,” Goyon said.

“One of the big question marks coming to Austria was to see if he could replicate his performance from Brno, where he clearly made a step forward, and I think the answer is a big YES!

“Let’s try to keep this level of performance for the next rounds, so congratulations to him!”

Bastianini dropped as low as ninth early in the grand prix before fighting his way forward to finish one place behind top KTM rider Pedro Acosta.

"I am happy about the result, my best this year!” said Bastianini, who also benefitted from the latest KTM aero this weekend.

“We have confirmed this weekend the results from Brno, and it feels good to be again in the top 5, it’s good for our morale after this first half of the season.

“I am feeling good, I am working a lot on my style and I really like the new aero provided by the factory, so let’s continue working like this!"

Bastianini was the only Tech3 rider in Sunday’s MotoGP race with Maverick Vinales withdrawing due to pain from his healing shoulder.