MotoGP Aragon: Bastianini enjoying the battles, ‘this time I won!’

Another Ducati duel dominated Motorland Aragon on Sunday with Gresini’s Enea Bastianini victorious for his fourth win of the year.

Winning out over Ducati Lenovo’s Pecco Bagnaia in another edge-of-seat drag to the line, by 0.04s, Bastianini proved why Ducati chose the young Italian for 2023 promotion.

“Another good race and good battle like in Misano!” Bastianini said from Aragon. “My start was difficult, when Aleix [Espargaro] overtook me I went a bit long and lost some positions compared to where I started but on lap nine I was back on top. Then made a mistake at turn ten and went off, but I thought ‘okay, now I have to stay calm to close the gap to Pecco’.

“He was really fast like Misano and made no mistakes, like Misano, but on the last lap I was closer and I won! It’s amazing for me to be back on top, and I’m happy.

“I didn’t think about which corner to try and make the overtake,” he continued, “but when I saw Pecco really close at turn five, I thought then was the time to overtake and at turn seven I was really strong in this race.

“Pecco and the other Ducati riders are so fast,” the 24-year-old said about the Bologna factory’s ascendancy having already secured the Constructor’s Championship. “But Pecco has his strongest points like me. We’re riding the same bikes and to overtake him is really difficult but this time I won.”

While mathematically Bastianini is still in the fight, he’s playing down his 2022 MotoGP title chances.

“48 points is too much to close the gap, for me, but I want to continue in this direction and be competitive in the last part of the championship,” he acknowledged. “Let’s see what happens race by race, but I have a good setup for the future.”