Coming into his second season in the premier class, Bastianini has switched from the defunct Avintia squad to Gresini Racing as it returns to being a true independent outfit following seven years as Aprilia’s factory entrant.
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Bastianini – who began his grand prix career with Gresini Racing in 2014 in Moto3 – scored two podiums with Avintia in his rookie campaign last year, claiming third in both the San Marino and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix.
The Italian will continue to ride a Ducati in 2022, but will pilot a 2021 factory-spec Desmosedici instead of the 2019 bike he rode last season.
Having tested the bike already in November at Jerez, Autosport asked Bastianini during Gresini’s launch event on Saturday what the main differences are between the GP19 and GP21.
“I’ve tried this bike only on one track for the moment in Jerez, but when I rode it for the first time, I could see it was more easy and [I was] more relaxed during the session,” he said.
“Also, when you push, you can do some errors and at the end to not lose a lot of time and this is important, but also when I tried this I could see also [I could push] more on the braking, I can brake more late compared to the ’19 bike, but also [with] less movement.
“For qualifying, this is fantastic.”
He also noted that the 2021 Ducati had better corner speed, adding: “When I tried the ’21 bike for the first time, from the start my feeling was better when I was riding the bike.
“Ducati, the DNA of the Ducati, is incredible for me.
“Also, in the middle of the corner you can do more speed and this is important for the race, for saving the tyres, but I think this is not my biggest problem during the race.”
After his double podium in his rookie season, Bastianini admits “expectations for this season are high”, but pinpointed his “disaster” qualifying as an area he needs to improve having started inside the top 12 just once in 2021.
“The expectations for this season are high because last year, especially during the last part of the season, we did two podiums and I thought I could be competitive in MotoGP,” he said.
“For this year, I have to improve, because last year I learnt a lot from the category and now I have to be more consistent during the season.
“Also, during qualifying, because all my qualifying last year was a disaster, but now with this bike for me will be more easy to do faster laps in qualy.”
