Enea Bastianini names Marc Marquez as a threat at this weekend’s MotoGP race at the Circuit of the Americas, stating the Spaniard is “really fast on this track”.
It’s no secret that Circuit of the Americas is a track that is suited to Marquez’s riding style due to its sweeping sequence of high-speed corners throughout the lap.
Marquez won each of the races to be held at the Austin venue from its debut race in 2013 up until 2019 when a crash saw his dominant stranglehold come to an end.
Despite the track’s absence on the calendar in 2020 due to Covid-19, Marquez recovered from his setback with injuries to climb the top step of the rostrum in 2021.
But the Spaniard has not repeated the feat since, with Bastianini taking the spoils in 2022 while Alex Rins claimed his second win at COTA in MotoGP last season.
Having been able to repeat his heroics 12 months ago, Bastianini is relishing the prospect of returning to the Texan-based circuit for the third round of the campaign.
“Yeah, I missed the race last year for my injury,” Bastianini told Autosport. “I remember I have very good memories from the 2022.
“Was my favourite win of that season and it’s beautiful for me to be back in COTA.
“I know we [will] have a problem with Marc because he’s really fast on this track, but also with other riders. Let’s see how it is.”
Bastianini has sustained a much more promising start this term compared to his wretched debut season on a factory Desmosedici, where he missed several rounds.
The Italian sits ahead of team-mate and reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia in the Riders’ Championship, as he recorded a podium from pole position in Portimao.
“The mentality will always be the same, because I think we started off on the right foot this year,” he noted.
“We worked well all winter, I knew it would be a little bit more difficult start [to the season], in the sense that in Qatar I suffered a little bit more.
“But we know what are the aspects we have to work on, so we are quite not to say calm, but confident.”
