Aron Canet and Enea Bastianini had a tricky Australian Grand Prix at the iconic Phillip Island circuit on Sunday, with wind, cold and rain once again playing a key role in proceedings.
After completing the warmup in thirteenth position, Enea Bastianini did not take long to get into the Top Ten, gaining positions gradually in a group of eleven riders. The Italian continued to move up the order decisively, reaching third place with 15 laps remaining. He fought in a typically tough Moto3 group battle, reaching second and trying not to let the race leader escape. Nine laps from the end, the red flag was waved to end the race, due to the increased rainfall. Despite being in second at that time, the positions taken from the previous lap left him fifth in the race standings. The Italian moves from ninth to sixth place in the World Championship, with 114 points.
Aron Canet occupied tenth place in the warmup, and in race started out with the group at the front, as a battle of slipstreams raged between those in the top ten positions. However, shortly thereafter he suffered a crash at Turn 4 when another rider knocked into him, putting an end to the good work he had done over the weekend. Canet returned to his garage for repair work to his bike and went back out on track, but the appearance of rain and a red flag meant his efforts were for nought. Although rival Joan Mir has now been crowned Moto3 World Champion, Canet still has a chance of fighting for the runner-up spot with Romano Fenati.
EMILIO ALZAMORA – TEAM PRINCIPAL
“The result for Bastianini feels like a podium, because of the performance level shown by him
“A race at Phillip Island is always full of crashes, and that was the case today. At least our two riders were in the group at the front of the race, and they had also been working very well over the weekend, but we never had the lucky break. Aron was comfortable in the first group, but he was hit from behind and couldnt avoid crashing. It’s a shame because today he would have surely been up there with Enea fighting for the podium. He returned to the pits and we decided to go back on track in case they stopped the race for rain before the 2/3 mark, but that didn’t happen. In the end, the race stopped when Enea was riding in second, but the classification from the previous lap left him fifth. However, for our team this result feels like a podium, because of the performance level shown by him.
