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Enea Bastianini's Friday free practice in Le Mans left him with a bitter taste in the mouth at the end. The Italian rider who took victory on the French circuit in 2022 dictated a fast pace in free practice, finishing with the fourth chrono. In pre-qualifying, however, an initially suboptimal choice of tires forced him to make a change in the process, a mistake that for a few thousandths cost him direct entry into tomorrow's Q2. So a Saturday of qualifying looms as crucial as it is hostile for the rider from Rimini, with a Q1 that boasts names of the calibre of Marc Marquez and Binder, who were also left out of Q2. The Italian, however, knows he can do well and said he was satisfied overall with his race pace.
"Overall the day was positive - said Enea - unfortunately I did not have very good feelings with the medium and I had to take it off. I put on the hard compound but unfortunately I had not tested it and so it was not ready for the fast lap. I tackled the time attack with the soft and it was more difficult than expected."
On the pace, however, the Italian feels he can have his say.
"On the pace we are in a good situation, in the morning better than in the afternoon session, but still in the top five.The speed is there and the confidence too, so I don't feel like saying it was a bad day, however, being out of Q2 by 10 thousandths pisses me off."
During the session, the Italian rider also suffered a crash.
"The soft compared to the hard has less support so you brake less, it was more on the limit, but with ifs and buts you do very little."
So Saturday's qualifying looks as if it's going to be challenging, with riders like Marquez and Binder.
"It's going to be intense qualifying - he joked - for sure it's always better to go straight into Q2 from Friday, but I think we are not lacking in speed. We'll see if we can get everything going in the right direction tomorrow."
Despite the complicated start to the weekend from qualifying, the Ducati rider remains among the favorites for the race win at the French circuit, according also to Martin.
"It's clear that the starting position matters, you have to start at the front in this MotoGP. Today we got in trouble but with a good qualifying I think we can fight it out well in the race."
