Bastianini: GP21 bike ‘better’ in every aspect, ‘more stable’ than GP19

Enea Bastianini finishes day-one of the Official Sepang MotoGP test fourth quickest, and top Ducati. 

The Gresini rider spent much of the day second fastest after posting an impressive 1:58.638s - +0.267s behind Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro, however, late efforts from Maverick Vinales and Suzuki’s Alex Rins relegated Bastianini to fourth, one spot ahead of Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco. 

After riding the Avintia Esponsorama GP19 bike throughout his 2021 rookie season, Bastianini has now completed his second official outing on the GP21 package he will race with in 2022. 

"We tried for the first time (GP21) in the Jerez test, but you know, in one track it can be not so normal," added Bastianini. "Now after two days and two tests, one day for the moment here in Malaysia, I understand better this bike. 

"It’s better in every part of the track. You can brake later and also I like a lot the rear because it’s more stable. Especially when I have the new tyre on the rear I can open the throttle more aggressively compared to the 19 bike."

Given the type of performances Bastianini delivered towards the end of 2021 on a somewhat outdated GP19 last season, it would be a surprise not to see the former Moto2 champion make significant steps forward in 2022.   

The main area of difficulty for Bastianini last year was extracting the most performance over one lap, which is something he’s already more confident about achieving on the current package.

Bastianini said: "For me I can be more competitive with this bike especially in the qualifying. On the 19 bike there is only one point that’s a bit different because with the 19 it was easy to save a lot the tyre. 

"With this (bike) you can use a lot more the tyre in the first three or four laps to be fast but after there is a drop. Then another drop after that. But it’s better because we are faster."