Race Day!! ~San Marino~Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli~

Bastianini rides to maiden victory





                                      

                                               Enea Bastianini celebrates his first victory in the Moto3 category

 Enea Bastianini scored his maiden victory in round 13 of the Moto3 World Championship today. This is even more special as "la Bestia" hails from Remini, a mere 24 km from the Misano circuit. I have followed Bastianini's career since he entered the Moto3 category in 2014 with the GO&FUN Gresini Team and he has impressed me. He scored three podium positions in his debut season, finishing second at the Spanish GP of Catalunya and following that up later in the season with another second position at the Czech Republic GP in Brno and a third place finish at Silverstone. Enea finished the season 9th in the Moto3 World Championship.

A change in machinery to Honda's Gresini Racing Team for the 2015 season proved to be a smart decision. Enea started the 2015 season in similar fashion scoring his first pole position onboard his Honda in the opening round in Qatar which resulted in a second place finish. He followed that up with three more 2nd place finishes in Le Mans, Catalunya, Brno and a 3rd place finish at the Sachsenring in Germany. After failing to convert two previous pole positions (Catalunya, Assen) to victories the pressure was on to deliver. Bastianini grabbed his third pole position on Saturday with a hot lap of 1m 42.486 to set himself up for victory.

What followed was a back and forth race between multiple riders including Portugese flier Miguel Olivera, Niccolo Antonelli, Romano Fenati, Brad Binder and Danny Kent. This enthralling battle lasted from the first corner on lap 1 to the exit of the final turn and proved a real treat for the fans. There was numerous overtakes, track limits were exceeded, high spills, and high speed racing, you name it this race had it. After 24 laps the chequered flag was waving and Enea Bastianini had claimed his first victory in the Moto3 class. Miguel Olivera kept the pressure on straight until the end though, victory was only achieved by 0.037 of a second. This truly shows how competitive this race was and in fact how competitive the Moto3 class is.

A big well done to "la Bestia" and I'm sure there is plenty more to come. Second place in this year's championship is nearly secure...maybe the championship itself beckons next season!