Hard fought top 5 at the Red Bull Ring

After his solid 7th place in the sprint race on Saturday, Enea Bastianini was hungry for more on Sunday. A solid warm up with the 4th time confirmed the good feeling of the number 23 heading to the main race, scheduled at 14:00. The sun was out and it was hot on the grid, but quickly some clouds covered the Red Bull Ring, bringing some uncertainty with regards to potential risks of rain. In the end, no rain, it was a fully dry weekend. At the race start, Enea’s start was not ideal, and he found himself a bit stuck between Fermin Aldeguer and Brad Binder arriving at T1, he dropped two positions to 7th in one corner, and he was in 6th entering lap 2 after passing past Raul Fernandez. A battle for 4th at the front between Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta earned the ‘Beast’ some time to sit close right behind them, until he got the opportunity to make a nice move on Acosta in sector 2 to P5. A small mistake at the brakes entering lap 1 sadly saw him go a bit wide, and three riders could go through. That was P8, with Raul Fernandez again to chase. Fermin Aldeguer took the opportunity to go through too as he took advantage of a small loss of rhythm from Bestia, and that was P9 at the end of lap 3. Alex Marquez’ long lap penalty gave Enea back P8, with Fermin Aldeguer to chase for. The young Gresini rookie was showing solid pace and making bold moves, but Bastianini kept the pace alongside him. At the front, Brad Binder went wide while overtaken by Fernandez, and Enea sneaked into 7th. The gap to Raul Fernandez tightened quickly with Bastianini not wanting to lose time chasing the number 25, bearing in mind that the group behind was coming back quickly led by Alex Marquez. Halfway through the race, just 0.18 seconds separated Bastia from Fernandez, and the number 23 wasn’t shy, and made a nice and sharp move on the inside of the Trackhouse rider to move to 6th. Ahead, Aldeguer was 3 seconds away, when Francesco Bagnaia ahead made a small mistake and went wide at T1. Enea was now just 1.9 seconds behind his ex-teammate with faster lap times. Soon, Bestia had completely closed on Bagnaia, until he got the opportunity to make a nice overtake at T4 on the Ducati Factory rider. P5 with six laps to go, with Pedro Acosta now 1.6 seconds ahead. Bastianini kept that position until the checkered flag, to secure his first top 5-finish of 2025 on a Sunday! Well done Enea & team!

I am happy about the result, my best this year! From the start of the race, the sensations on the bike were positive. I made a small mistake after two laps because I was in the slipstream of Alex (Marquez), and I did not close the corner. I made a great comeback after, but in the last 5-6 laps, I did not have the same potential that I used to have. We did not have more, and I hope that we will find some solutions for the future. We have confirmed this weekend the results from Brno, and it feels good to be again in the top 5, it’s good for our morale after this first half of the season. I am feeling good, I am working a lot on my style and I really like the new aero provided by the factory, so let’s continue working like this!

Fonte: Tech3 Racing