Enea Bastianini on his KTM turnaround: ‘If bike changes don’t work, you’re the problem’

Tech3 KTM MotoGP rider Enea Bastianini says his recent form rebound on the RC16 has come from ‘working a lot on myself’ through a difficult 2025 season.

The seven-time grand prix winners step from Ducati to KTM this year started off as a nightmare, with the Italian struggling to adapt his hard-braking riding style to the RC16.

Enea Bastianini wasn’t able to crack the top six in a grand prix until last weekend in Austria, where he was fifth, which followed on from a run to third in the Brno sprint prior to the summer break.

While KTM has thrown a lot of different parts at the RC16 this year, ergonomic changes have proven to be the biggest physical help Bastianini has gained.

“Of course, at the start I wasn’t comfortable with the ergonomics with the bike,” he said on Thursday ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

“Every time I jumped on the bike I was nervous because I was thinking it was not my bike.

“But at the end, step by step, I jump on the bike and now I feel better.

“I worked a lot on that side to be more competitive. Now we miss something, we need something different on the bike.

“But every time I jump on the bike I think this is my bike, I can play, I can do something.”

Mentality changes yield the biggest gain for Enea Bastianini on the KTM

Though KTM has helped improve the bike for Bastianini, he says working on himself has yielded the biggest gains for him.

“During the last period I have changed mentally, I have adapted a bit the riding to the bike and step by step I am improving,” he said.

“And also the team have given me the chance to do this. We are happy.

“I worked a lot on myself, starting from the first two, three races because I think when it’s like this you need to change something and you have to understand which part is the critical one.

“I worked at home, I trained to be more competitive with this bike because it’s very physical.

“Step by step I’ve improved, and also mentally because when you try many things on the bike and nothing changes, the problem in that case is you and you need to work on yourself. I did it.”