The Ducati Lenovo Team was the absolute protagonist of an incredible race in the Monster Energy British Grand Prix, with Enea Bastianini back atop the podium – after yesterday’s sprint race win – courtesy of an excellent performance in the 20-lap Silverstone race, his maiden win of the season in a Sunday encounter. Francesco Bagnaia crossed the finish line in third place after leading for more than half the race.
Bastianini had a good start from third place on the grid as he was second at turn one. The opening two laps were not too kind to the Ducati rider #23, who made a couple of mistakes that cost him two positions. As the race progressed, Enea managed to find the right feeling with his Desmosedici GP machine as he overtook Aleix Espargaró before chasing the leading duo of Martín and Bagnaia. With seven laps left, Bastianini took advantage of a small mistake by his teammate and moved up to second position, with a one-second gap to the front. Thanks to an unrivalled pace in the closing stages, he managed to get on his rival’s tail and take the lead on the penultimate lap – ultimately crossing the line with a 1.9secs margin. This is Bastianini’s maiden double win, in what was MotoGP’s 75th anniversary.
Bagnaia enjoyed a perfect start and was in the lead as the MotoGP field entered turn one. The reigning world champion held onto first position until nine laps to go and, two laps later, he was also overtaken by his teammate. In the closing stages, he could not keep the strong pace shown in the first half of the encounter due to grip issues. Still, Pecco managed the situation and finished the race in third position.
With the tenth Grand Prix of the season drawing to a close, Bagnaia is currently second in the championship standings, three points away from Martín. Bastianini consolidates third position and narrows the gap to the top down to 49 points. Ducati is sits strongly atop the manufacturers’ standings with 352 points, with the Ducati Lenovo Team leading the team standings (430 points).
The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action in a fortnight’s time at Spielberg, Austria, for the eleventh event of the 2024 MotoGP season.
Enea Bastianini (#23 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st
“It was a difficult race, as I made a few mistakes in the first two laps and lost some ground. Then, I was able to find the right confidence to get back to the leading group: I bridged the gap first to Aleix (Espargaró), who was not an easy one to pass, and then to Pecco. In the lasf four-five laps, Jorge was pushing really hard and it wasn’t easy to catch him. It’s a fantastic feeling to be back on top of the podium in a Sunday race. I’ve been working a lot on myself: I analysed the first half of the race – the positives and the negatives of it. Generally speaking, my pace has been strong until now, but obviously the qualifying performance surely had a negative impact on many occasions. I tried to work on the mental side of things in order to avoid being caught unprepared in this regard, and I hope I can continue this way.”
Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd
“I’m satisfied because after yesterday’s crash, it was important to finish the race. It wasn’t easy: I got into the lead and tried to manage the race as best as I could but unfortunately, as I couldn’t push as hard as I wanted with the front-tyre, I had to use the rear tyre more in order to get the bike turning. This led to some struggles at the end of the race. When Martín overtook me, I tried to stay with him but I almost tucked the front at turn seven; this is when I thought that, after yesterday’s crash, it was better to think about making it to the finish line. It’s clear that Enea, when he’s strong already from Friday, is really hard to beat, as he’s known for being very strong in the final part of the race – and he show exactly that today.”
Luigi Dall’Igna (Ducati Corse General Manager)
“All riders did a fantastic race and today was another highly exciting Sunday. The battle on the track was incredible and I’m truly happy for Enea, who managed to get his first Sunday race win of the season. His pace in the final laps was unmatched, which shows that when he also performs well in qualifying, he can battle for the win on every occasion. Pecco did well in bringing home a good result despite the grip issues encountered in the end and managing to stay close to the championship lead in the process. In two weeks’ time there’ll be another opportunity to do well in Austria, on a track where our technical package has always been competitive.”
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