MotoGP Argentina: Gresini hardest hit by delay, Bastianini - ’I have nothing’

Freight issues are currently plaguing preparations for the Argentinian Grand Prix and Gresini Racing’s Enea Bastianini is one of the riders hit hardest.

Despite leading the MotoGP Championship, Bastianini currently has barely more than team clothing in his possession, with the entire Gresini infrastructure stuck in transit en route from Mombasa due to technical issues with the cargo plane.

“Yes, for the moment I have nothing,” the Italian confirmed from the pre-event press conference on Thursday. “I haven’t the bike, I haven’t the box but we will see if arrive tomorrow. Will be hard, I think, for all the mechanics but I think Saturday we can be on track.”

With the final crates hopefully arriving at the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit on Friday morning, some teams will have less than 24 hours to complete the set up and preparation work usually spread across two to three days. Track action has therefore been condensed with MotoGP’s free practice one set for 10:35 local time (14:35 BST) on Saturday with Q2 running just seven hours later.

“Tomorrow we will see what happens,” Bastianini said of the now compact two-day schedule. “I think you have to be more concentrated because there is a short time, session to session and also you can’t modify a lot the bike because we haven’t time. Is for me much more difficult to arrive at the perfect setup and it’s important to bring the best decision, the most early as possible.”

Having won Qatar’s opening race, Mandalika proved more of a challenge for the 24-year-old as the rains arrived half an hour before lights out.

“In Mandalika I did my first race with wet condition,” Bastianini confirmed. “The first part of the race stay a disaster for me but later I bring a lot of confidence with the