MotoGP Sepang Test: ‘Spectacular result’ as Bastianini conquers qualifying woes

Enea Bastianini bettered Saturday’s fourth place by setting an all-new, albeit unofficial, fastest ever MotoGP lap of the Sepang Circuit on Sunday.

The Gresini rider was certainly feeling comfortable and making the most of his GP21 Ducati in Malaysia as he swept Aleix Espargaro off the top of the standings - the Aprilia rider himself having just broken Danilo Petrucci’s overall two-wheel benchmark from 2019 - thanks to a 1’58.131 lap on just his 13th of the morning. A last-corner mistake prevented him from breaking into the 1’57s but the time was unmatched for the remainder of the day.

With temperatures rising, a second attempt at time attacks was scheduled for later in the day but the rains had other ideas. A tropical storm saturated the track in the early afternoon, with wet set up the order of the final hours for the riders willing to brave the conditions.

Despite only completing 25 laps on day two, the Italian was pleased with the work undertaken and the progress made, especially with qualifying performance being his weakest issue last season.

“I’m happy about these two days of test,” Bastianini said from the Malaysian paddock. “Yesterday I work with the team to do some laps with the new bike and to adapt my style a little bit to the ‘21 bike.

“I’m happy about today because I am first. Is a spectacular result but is a good day with the ‘21 bike, it’s a very good bike!

“I did only one time attack because I stay faster and was a risk to try other. At the end I’m happy because I stay fast more in respect to last year, because you know, always in qualifying is a disaster for me but with this bike it’s better. The classification is very close, there are ten riders in 0.2s, is nothing!

“When I try for the first time in