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Enea Bastianini put on a show at the Assen TT, despite a difficult qualifying session in which he started 11th, from the back of the grid. The rider from Rimini sharpened his claws on the hostile Dutch track and racked up a series of overtakes that took him to 4th place, just below the podium. It was a positive situation for the Ducati rider, who's also fourth in the championship and who has repeatedly demonstrated that he can handle long distances on Sunday.
"This morning's qualifying was difficult," Enea began. "The feeling compared to yesterday changed. The bike was moving a lot and strangely. The wind decreased. Doing a good race changes your day, even if starting 11th is obviously complicated, especially here in Assen where overtaking is never easy. We improved the sensation on the bike, and that was also important. I overtook a lot and came close to the podium. We started in the sprint with a modification we weren't sure would have worked. But doing it today was better than tomorrow during the warm-up and close to the race."
You almost got on the podium. That increases your positive outlook for the race tomorrow.
"I'm positive but, like I said, starting from behind complicates everything. I'm not one to back down, in any case. The track conditions should change and, in the last stages of the race, I always manage to give something more. But the victory seems difficult to me, given Pecco's competitiveness on this circuit."
Today, Bagnaia and Martin had a different pace here in Assen.
"Pecco did something incredible this weekend. I see him winning tomorrow, too. I think he'll fight for second and third place. Martin is also competitive, but we'll have to see if he'll do the whole race with that pace. The long distance could benefit me, maybe."
You did many overtakes today. Which one was the best?
"They were all very on the limit, but maybe the last one on Aleix ... I didn't know if I would make it. Maybe it was the most dangerous."
The high temperatures on the track today influenced things. They should be decreasing tomorrow. This is an important factor to consider when choosing tires.
"It's going to be difficult to choose. The hard one behaved well today, but it was a bit on the limit when bending. If the temperatures drop, I think we won't use the hard tire on the front, but the choice of the rear is also hanging in the balance."
In qualifying, we again saw slow riders waiting for a slipstream.
"It's something that keeps happening, especially here where having a slipstream and a reference in front of you is important in maintaining corner entry speed. Obviously, slowing down, besides being a mistake, is also a risk to yourself and to others. Normally, to avoid these situations, when I see riders like Marc get on the track, I wait in the pits at least twenty seconds, but you still end up finding them waiting for you. I don't know what can be done specifically to limit this behavior. I hope things will improve in the future."
