The Ducati Lenovo Team has wrapped up the Australian Grand Prix with a podium finish courtesy of Francesco Bagnaia, third at the chequered flag in today’s 27-lap race at Phillip Island. Enea Bastianini crossed the line in fifth position.
Bagnaia entered turn one in third place and moved up to second position on lap four – following Bezzecchi’s long-lap. After briefly taking the lead during lap twelve, Bagnaia was overtaken by Martín and Marc Márquez and then gradually lost ground from the leading duo as the race progressed. In the final laps, the reigning world champion managed the margin on the following riders to secure third place.
Bastianini made up a few positions at the start before finding himself in a five-way battle for fourth. Enea did his best to get the better of Di Giannantonio in the closing stages and was eventually fifth at the line – missing out on a top four finish by only 13 thousandths of a second.
With three Grand Prix left, Bagnaia sits second in the championship standings, 20 points in arrears of Martín. Bastianini is fourth, with 93 points to bridge. The Ducati Lenovo Team is still atop the team standings with 735 points, with Ducati already crowned the 2024 constructors’ champion.
The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action on Friday at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand for the eighteenth event of the season.
Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd
“Obviously I’m not happy with the result, but we could have hardly done any better today. We managed to improve a little compared to yesterday and I did all I could to stay with Jorge (Martín) and Marc (Márquez) but ended up struggling on corner entry – and they were simply better than us today. The next two circuits on the calendar are usually better for me feeling-wise, and we’ll make sure to be ready.”
Enea Bastianini (#23 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 5th
“The expectations were a lot higher, but already from the start I had noticed that the feeling was not the best. My lap-times were a lot slower compared to the warmup: I was unable to push, and the front tucked on many occasions. It didn’t go as I’d hoped and it’s a pity. In light of how both yesterday’s race and this morning’s warm up went, I was expecting a better performance, but unfortunately it turned out to be more a challenge than we had foreshadowed. We need to understand what happened before turning our attention on the next races starting from Thailand, where we’ll try to bounce back.”
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