Enea Bastianini Sets MotoGP Lap Record in Mandalika Practice, Targets Sector Two for Pole Improvement

Enea Bastianini spots a challenging section at Mandalika despite setting a MotoGP practice lap record

Friday's fastest rider highlights the area he needs to work on in Indonesia

Enea Bastianini mentions that he must enhance his performance in the second sector of the Mandalika track to achieve "the perfect lap" for securing pole position at the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix.

The Ducati factory racer arrives at this weekend's Mandalika race following his second victory of the season, leaving him only 59 points behind championship leader Jorge Martin.

On Friday in Indonesia, Bastianini broke the former lap record by clocking a 1 minute 29.630 second time, leading the overall practice sessions.

Happy with both his long-run performance and single-lap quickness, Bastianini has pinpointed a problem area on the track that he needs to address. The competitive nature of the field after Friday's sessions indicates that the upcoming qualifying rounds will be even more challenging.

"I'm feeling well," he mentioned to the press, including Crash.net, on Friday.

"I'm pleased with today because we were quick right from the beginning this afternoon."

"However, it's not simpler because the medium rear tire requires two to three laps to reach optimal performance."

"Previously, you needed to take some risks to achieve speed. However, for the time trial, I was prepared and the bike performed excellently."

"I aimed to achieve high speed with the first set of tires, and ultimately, my quickest lap was with that initial set."

"At this point, we need to get back to work and analyze the data, as I consistently lose 0.1 to 0.15 seconds in sector two."

"I need to make some changes for tomorrow. It's crucial to nail the perfect lap since all the riders are really quick and the competition is tight. We have to perform flawlessly."

According to the chart of best partial times, Bastianini led in sector one on Friday. However, he fell to sixth place in sector two, before climbing back into the top three in the final segments.

As he anticipated the qualifying rounds, Bastianini observed that he needed to take certain risks during his time attacks. However, he mentioned that he didn't feel as precarious as some of the other riders, who experienced numerous front-end crashes in the second session.

He mentioned that he took a risk during his time attack, particularly with the second tire.

"However, the difference is minimal. I noticed a few racers had opted for the soft front tire, whereas I had chosen the hard front tire."

"I can't say if it's better because I only tested this one today. However, I recall using that tire in last year's race, and it performed well."

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