MotoGP, Barcelona Test: Enea Bastianini undermines Tech3 KTM’s plans

The Barcelona test day for Enea Bastianini and the Tech3 KTM team was marred by a major incident. The Italian rider, newly arrived at KTM, crashed heavily, destroying his bike and compromising the team's plans for this crucial test day.

End-of-season testing is crucial for all MotoGP teams, as it allows them to test new setups, compare bikes and set the foundations for the upcoming season. However, for Tech3 KTM, the day of tests in Barcelona was disrupted by an unforeseen incident: Enea Bastianini, who was making his debut with the team after his transfer from Ducati, fell on the 43rd lap, completely destroying his RC16.

Team Tech3, which begins 2025 with a duo of excellent drivers composed ofAeneas Bastianini and Maverick Vinales, hoped to use this test to better understand the behavior of the KTM RC16 and maximize limited time. The team manager of Tech3, Nicolas Goyon, had explained before the incident that the aim of the day was to explore how the bike behaved, especially with new riders. This is only the first day of testing. We don't want to make mistakes, because the goal is to find out how the bike behaves. We want to identify our strengths and weaknesses so we can build on them. ", said Support.

« Enea Bastianini must first understand the bike before he can really accelerate »

However, not everything went as planned. A few seconds after these statements, bastianini crashed before Turn 5, seriously damaging the bike. Although he was able to restart with a replacement bike, the incident delayed his testing schedule. Support, visibly disappointed, did not hide his frustration on speedweek : " Enea needs to understand the bike first before he can really accelerate. He clearly didn't follow that plan! »

The team manager highlighted the difficulty of adapting to the new bikes, recalling that Marc Marquez also needed a few races last year to adapt to their new machine. However, for a team like Tech3, every mistake counts. The goal was to make the most of the limited testing time, and this unforeseen incident clearly set back the team's progress.

While bastianini working on getting used to the RC16, the 2025 season begins under new auspices for Tech3 KTM, and the success of these first tests will be essential to define the bases of their future campaign.

MotoGP, Barcelona Test: times