Enea Bastianini produced one of the strongest comeback rides of the Malaysian Grand Prix, charging from 19th on the grid to finish seventh in Sepang — his best result since a podium in Catalunya.
The Tech3 KTM rider sliced through the field early, reducing a 15-second deficit to race winner Alex Marquez to just five seconds by mid-race. Known as MotoGP’s “tyre whisperer,” Bastianini carefully managed his soft tyres to overtake Marco Bezzecchi, Brad Binder, and both Honda riders Luca Marini and Johann Zarco. Late DNFs for Fermin Aldeguer and Francesco Bagnaia promoted him to seventh at the flag.
“My life is complicated!” he laughed. “From Friday, I was nervous because I had no confidence with the bike. On Saturday, we solved some problems in the sprint and arrived on Sunday more prepared. But starting 18th is tough — I gave it everything, though it’s hard to recover on this track when the front tyre keeps heating up.”
Bastianini acknowledged KTM still needs to improve qualifying pace. “We’re missing a bit of consistency, especially in time attacks. Every time new tyres go on, the other KTM riders improve, but not me. We had this problem last year and fixed it, so I’m confident we’ll solve it again.”
Tech3 team manager Nicolas Goyon praised the performance but admitted frustration. “Gaining 12 positions to finish P7 is great, but it’s bittersweet — with a better qualifying, he could’ve fought for the top five. We still have two races to improve our weakness, and we’ll give it our all until the end.”
