Beasted! Enea Bastianini carves his own slice of history at British MotoGP

Ducati Lenovo team’s Enea Bastianini reeled off the stats and the milestones for round 10 of 20. The 26-year-old claimed his first ‘double (Sprint and Grand Prix spoils), his first victory of the season, was the tenth different British GP victor from the last ten editions of the event, and contributed P1 to the seventh consecutive Ducati ‘lockout’ of the MotoGP podium ahead of Jorge Martin and teammate and world champ Francesco Bagnaia.

Fans that entered Silverstone had plenty of distraction when the howl of MotoGP bikes were not filling the English air, as the Monster Energy Compound and Backyard cranked up the entertainment factor, with live DJ sets, Freestyle displays, rig riots, Monster girls, stunt riders and 4-wheel action, with attendance from VIP’s, Jason Statham and McLaren Racing CEO, Zak Brown.

Silverstone was baited for a busy Bagnaia. The World Champ had roamed the 18 corners the previous month for the Monster Energy Track Day of Legends (with peers like Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins and, of course, Valentino Rossi) but had been active through the three-week summer break by getting married and also riding at the packed World Ducati Week at Misano.

Pecco’s recent race form had been as vibrant as his vivid bike shade. Four rounds had fallen to the superior speed of the Italian in Italy, Spain, Holland and Germany and to the top of the championship points standings with Jorge Martin. Saturday did not go to plan however with a slow speed crash out of the podium running in the Sprint. Bagnaia worked on the cause of the tumble (his error), re-focused and came out on Sunday harder on the throttle. 

For once, the English climate recognized the time of the year and rewarded the 42,000 attendance with some vaguely summery conditions and flashes of sunshine on Sunday for the 15, 17 and 20 lap Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP chases. 

Bagnaia headed proceedings but couldn’t find the necessary feeling and flow with the front of the #1 machine. Bastianini on the other hand showed his mastery with the Michelins (and the used state of the tires late in the race to assert his skills over his countryman and also Martin. ‘The Beast’ is now up to P3 in the championship standings, less than 46 points behind Bagnaia (taking his eighth podium of the year) and Martin who are separated by just 3. “I thought a lot during this summer break to understand where it was possible to do something more. I check all my bases,” he said. “The approach for the time attack was good. Yesterday was my first victory on the sprint. Today on the real race. Also to win the 75th MotoGP at Silverstone: I’m happy.”

Bastia was as smooth as the man whose helmet livery he adopted for the British round: “I made the decision to do this helmet because it’s one of my favorite designs and we are here in England, and Mike Hailwood was one of the British riders.” He offered-up on the nine-times world champ and MotoGP Legend. A limited-edition special might be entering a few Christmas lists.

“I tried to do the maximum…but today the maximum was a third place,” said Pecco.

Elsewhere, Monster Energy Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo ran away with the Grand Prix in 2021 but was hamstrung by his current ‘testing’ status with the Japanese crew. Fabio is constantly trying modifications on the M1 to find a more competitive package for 2025 and beyond. “Right now, I [am] more like a test rider than a rider during the last races,” he said. “At the moment I prefer to focus a little bit more on trying to be as fast as possible because it's been a long time since I have not been using the same bike for at least two days in a row.” The 2021 world champ still gunned the white and red Yamaha as hard as he could and crossed the line in 11th. The Frenchman was flying solo after walking wounded Alex Rins had to pull out of the weekend due to a fall on Friday and reaggravation of hand and foot injuries picked up two races ago in the Netherlands.

Props to the VR46 squad for not only Fabio Di Giannantonio’s 5th place result and Marco Bezzecchi’s brave ride to 8th after being smashed out of the first corner of the Saturday Sprint by a spiraling Franco Morbidelli, but also for the cool ‘Gauloises’ graphic in dedication to boss Valentino Rossi and his momentous 2004 championship year: twenty years ago of course. 

For 2024 MotoGP the heat is now up, and the heads stay down: there will be full focus for fast races on the agenda in August and a trip to the scenery of Spielberg in Austria followed by swirl of MotorLand in Aragon, Spain.