The Sprint Race for the Australian Grand Prix saw the Ducati Lenovo Team on the podium courtesy of the third-place finish by Enea Bastianini, who crossed the line ahead of his teammate Francesco Bagnaia – fourth.
Bastianini had a good start from tenth place on the grid as he moved up to fifth place during the opening lap. As the race progressed, Enea made his way to third place, which he took following an overtaking manoeuvre on his teammate with six laps left, before securing his thirteenth podium finish of the season.
Bagnaia also had a positive start to the encounter as he consolidated third position during lap one. Pecco then managed to get the better of Bezzecchi for second place at the start of lap four, before being overtaken by Marc Márquez and Bastianini around halfway point in the race. In the closing stages, the reigning world champion successfully defended fourth position up to the chequered flag.
The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action tomorrow morning at 9:40 local time (GMT +11) for the warmup session, with the 27-lap, Australian Grand Prix race scheduled to get underway at 14:00.
Enea Bastianini (#23 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd
“We managed to be effective in this Sprint Race. Already from the sighting lap, I had noticed that the bike was moving a lot less at the rear-end, and that’s when I knew we could have had a good race. Obviously it wasn’t easy, especially given my starting position, but we managed to make up a lot of ground at the start and to improve our performance lap after lap. I tried to get closer to Marc (Márquez) in the final stages, but he had a little extra in the final laps. For tomorrow, it’ll be important to have the right approach also regarding the tyre choice, and I believe this will shuffle the cards in terms of competition compared to today.”
Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 4th
“We decided to make some set-up adjustments both in qualifying and in the race, as I didn’t have the right feeling, but then we ended up in the wrong direction and made things worse in the areas where things were good, while not addressing those in which we felt we had to improve. The pace was not bad to put up a fight, but it was surely worse than yesterday’s and this is why we have to analyse the data and understand how to move forward ahead of tomorrow. I tried to bridge the gap with Jorge (Martín) but the wind was bothering me quite a lot, especially in the fast corners.”
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