Marco Bezzecchi
Enea Bastianini finally appeared to find a groove aboard the KTM RC16 at the Czech Grand Prix, as the Tech3 ace made his 11th appearance of the 2025 MotoGP season.
The 27-year-old has endured a tricky campaign so far this season after moving to Tech3 on a two-year works KTM contract. The Austrian crew picked Bastianini up after Ducati decided to drop the Italian after two years in the Bologna Bullets’ works ranks to sign Marc Marquez.
Bastianini had ridden a Ducati Desmosedici all throughout his premier class career since the 2021 MotoGP season before jumping on the KTM RC16 this year. He also recorded all seven of the Rimini native’s Grand Prix victories, 18 podiums and two pole positions with a Ducati.
Racing on a very different machine at Tech3 meant Bastianini had to almost relearn how to ride a MotoGP bike. His crew chief, Alberto Giribuola, even told Bastianini that KTM Tech3 cannot turn the RC16 into a Ducati and that the onus would be on the Italian to adapt to it.
Tech3 boss Herve Poncharal wants top-five finishes in every race from Enea Bastianini
The first signs of real progress were then on show last time out at the Czech Grand Prix, with Bastianini bagging his first podium on a KTM with P3 in the Sprint Race at Brno. He may also have achieved a podium in the Czech GP if Bastianini had not crashed out of P4 on Lap 7/21.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Enea Bastianini from net worth to career stats
Bastianini crashed at Turn 3 shortly after overtaking his former Ducati teammate, Francesco Bagnaia. Even finishing the Czech GP in P4 would have yielded Bastianini’s best result on the KTM at Tech3, having so far failed to better his P7 in the Americas Grand Prix back in March.
With the competitiveness of the KTM at Brno, Tech3 team owner Herve Poncharal ‘hopes’ to see Bastianini and teammate Maverick Vinales finish every Grand Prix in the top five for the rest of 2025. Vinales has had three top-five finishes since he also joined Tech3 for this term.
Poncharal has told GPOne: “We hope to have at least one Tech3 KTM rider in the top five at each of the remaining Grands Prix, or two in the top 10 and one of them in the top five. We have to stay ambitious.”
Maverick Vinales has three top-five finishes for KTM Tech3 to Enea Bastianini’s zero
KTM also signed Vinales to a two-year factory contract to ride for Tech3 from the 2025 term after the Spaniard elected to leave Aprilia. The 30-year-old adapted to the RC16 much faster than Bastianini and is even the second-highest scoring KTM rider in the 2025 championship.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Maverick Vinales from career stats to net worth
Only works KTM rider Pedro Acosta has recorded more points aboard the RC16 than Vinales with 124 to 69, ahead of the 68 points of KTM’s Brad Binder and the 49 points of Bastianini. Vinales has also finished inside the top five with P4 at Jerez, P5 at Le Mans and P5 at Assen.
Poncharal quickly identified qualifying as Bastianini’s biggest problem, having only qualified on average in P17.4 so far this season. His average would also be P18.1 without qualifying a season-best P11 for the Czech GP, bettering his previous-best qualifying of P16 at Mugello.
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