Outgoing KTM MotoGP rider skirting “disaster” due to setup quirk

Enea Bastianini is entering his final races as a KTM rider and says there is a particular setup quirk of the RC16 that means he is constantly wary of entering “a disaster”.

When Bastianini was at Ducati, the Italian was able – like the rest of the riders there at the time – to take advantage of the Desmosedici’s wide setup window. It meant the bike could be adapted easily to different tracks and conditions: stop-start or flowing; cold and damp or warm and dry.

It’s this wide setup window that Enea Bastianini says is missing from the RC16.

“The window is very close [small], at the moment, of this bike,” the Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider said after the Misano MotoGP.

“You need to work on that window. If you try to go out it's a disaster. 

“That is for me the main problem and usually we have so many times during the long race, starting from me but also from Pedro [Acosta] – we can do something more compared to Saturday and also compared to the rest of the weekend. 

“I think we know what we need to find for the future. I have it clear inside my mind but it's not easy to do. 

“At the moment, like I said, the window is very [small].”

Sunday’s race saw Bastianini recover from 16th on the grid to finish inside the top-10, passing Luca Marini on the last lap for eighth.

“To be honest more or less it's always the same,” he said of his Misano weekend.

“On Friday we can go more or less fast. Also during the time attack [but] we have so many times during the Saturday we don't find the same; I don't find the same sensation on the bike, I don't find this. 

“This happens in every weekend. 

“I hope after this weekend to have much clearer that situation because for Sunday we are competitive. I saw this also during [on Sunday]: when I was alone I did a good lap, especially at the last lap I did 1m31.2s. 

“I'm not surprised about it because usually at the end of the race when I have confidence and when I have support from the front I can do it. 

“But anyway we need to work because we are not always on top. We are sometimes okay, we are there, but sometimes we are very low on the classification. We need to find another solution.”

Bastianini added that the main problem for him is that he does not feel strong at the start of the race because of instability at the front.

“Well it's not just at the end of the race the difference, but at the start of the race it's very complicated,” he explained.

“We have a lot of movement from the front and also I feel a lot the front very on the limit at the start. 

“But after, lap-by-lap, that's improved and also I can ride more with the rear; I can go early on the throttle; I can try to go on the side with the rear tyre and that helped me to turn and also to do some different manoeuvres. 

“I think after that GP we have more data to study because I think it's been the best GP to compare from the start to the end of the race.”