Francesco Bagnaia Y enea bastianini they open side by side in the same garage. They have always talked about their friendship and the respect they have for each other. And everything will continue like this, as they both admit before the start of the season. “Enea is intelligent, very competitive, we both want to win and give our best and I have great respect for him”, begins the world champion, while the contender, in a relaxed tone, points out the biggest difference between the two: “He He is world champion and I am not”.
sin defends crown, the 1 in his fairing and when it comes to pointing out a rival, he does not stop listing rivals: “Enea, Mark, Fabio… The level is very high with many pilots… It will be very difficult and very complicated to defend the title of world champion. I can’t make mistakes and relax.” Precisely the failures of the past campaign complicated many the options. A Desmosedici 22 which was a great evolution compared to version 21, which led bastianini, and the rider’s own mistakes, have made him learn the lesson: “The 2021 bike was incredible, Enea knows it well. Last year I asked Qatar if it was possible to go back to that version of the bike. This year will be a small evolution, not a great evolution”, he says about the frame that awaits him, to add: “I have learned the lesson from the mistakes made so far. I lost a lot of points in some races, but I’m here to defend the title and be in front.
sin he won the championship last season thanks to an exceptional second part that led him to come back from 91 points in eight races at Fabio Quartararo. In that section ‘The Beast’, with the Ducati satellite seemed more rival than ‘The devil’, even several hand-to-hand fights between the two teammates today opened the debate on the suitability of the team orders and the relationship between the two: “Last year’s fight generated a lot of noise because we are two Italians. But it was not an aggressive fight and we maintain a good relationship. Enea had an incredible year in an independent team and was very competitive”, says the world champion. Bastiani, for his part, also downplays the matter, and acknowledges, of course, beyond the relationship that unites them, the goal is to win. “Pecco is very fast, the fastest in the world. It is a pride for me to fight against him next year and try to beat him. My relationship with Bagnaia is the same, very good and I think it will continue to be so. Last year I was very fast and I hope to get a little closer to him ”, agrees the newcomer to the official Lenovo.
And finally, the question to both drivers, almost obligatory: the expectation with Marc Márquez: “Marc is Marc, it will be very difficult to beat him, but we have the potential to do it. Ducati is a very fast bike with a lot of power, but there are more names besides Márquez: Pecco, Quartararo, Jorge Martín”, comments Bastianini, who points out a small detail: “The format changes and it is important to face Saturday well”. “It is very competitive and I am sure that if Honda is competitive, it will be ahead”, Bagnaia complements.