Enea Bastianini was on the podium in the Solidarity Barcelona MotoGP Sprint for the seventh 𝔍Satu♍rday race in succession, taking second place from Jorge Martin on the final lap.

Bastianini passed Marಌtin on the downhill entry to turn five because he felt stronger than the Pramac Ducati rider in that part of the tra🎃ck. It was a move Bastianini said he’d been planning.

“I have pl🌱anned a bit the overtake to Jorge [Martin], because in that point I was more confident to go directly on the line and, well, I was much faster,” Bastianini said.

“It’s not simple, because on the left s💯ide the temperature of the tyr💙e is a bit cold, but for the rest, well, I overtake him.”

Turn five is a notorious corner at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya because it is the second left-hander of the lap, and the first one where the riders brake while entering, because turn two comes i🍒mmediately after turn one at the end of the front straight.

It𓆉 means that the temperature of the left-hand-side of the tyres is cold when arriving at turn five, and the corner bei♕ng downhill is another factor that can negatively affect the grip in that corner.

All of that means that passing in turn five can be a risk, in theory, but Bastianini said he was “Safe, because I was ജvery straight during the overtake. If there was a risk, probably it was possible for me to release the brake and go long.”

Repsol Honda’s Luca Marini agreed with Bastianini’s perspective, but only to a po🌳int.

Asked if if is risky to pass at turn five, Marini simply said “No,” but his justification for this was the asymmetric hard-compound front tyre that Michelin has brought to Barcelona this weekend, because it is softer on thꦆe left-hand-side than the medium-compound front tyre:

“If it is cold and you have the full hard option [front tyre], yes, but now we have the double compound — on the left s🅘ide is softer than the medium [compoꦑund front tyre] — so it’s much better than the past now, so to try an overtake there is okay, no problem.”

Bastianini joined Martin in running the medium-compound front tyre in the Sprint, but even still he was able to make the pass cleanly and wi💛thout incident.

Leading at the start "wasn't in my mind"

Bastianini’s start was the key to his race. From eight𓂃h on the grid he led at turn two, although his teammate Francesco Bagnaia took the leaജd at turn three.

“It wasn’t in my mind, to be honest, to be first in the firs🀅t corner,” Bastianini admitted, adding that he♔ simply didn’t have the pace to go with Bagnaia.

“Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] was with a bit better pace during the first t𒁏wo or three laps.

“Afterwards I bring my pace and I fight with Jorge. Our pace was🍸 really similar and ⛦we fought a lot for this second place.”

Aside from Bastianini’s turn five pass, he and Martin exchanged positions on multiple occasions at turn on♛e, including on one occasion where Bastianꦚini was pushed marginally off-track by martin on the outside of the first corner.

“ Sometimes it was a💛 bit on the limit, because one time we were out o꧟f the line, I was on the red,” Bastianini said.

“But when you fight for something important yoಌu have to give 100 per cent in every lap, in every corner.

“Jorge did it for all the race, me also because I fight also ♋for something good.

“But for the rest, it was necessary for me to do a good race in Barcelona because ever✤y time it’s not simple this track for me, and it’s good to do a steꦉp today.”

Bastianini, in particular, was str🦩ong at the end. It’s historically been a trait of the Italian, but a strong point that had vanished somewhat in the recent flyaway races.

He said that he had made a change to the bike that he f🎀elt had helped, but that it’s not clear if it will help in Sunday’s full-distance r♈ace.

“We have to check better tomorrow, and to﷽morrow let’s see if also the change on the bike works well for the end of the race,” Bastianini ꦰsaid.

“But today, yes, the last two or three la🅺ps the bike worked w🧔ell, and also the grip was a bit more on the edge [of the tyre].”

About Sunday, Bastianin🍌i is unsure of his tyre choice, apart from that the soft-compound rear is not a viable option.

“🎐I don’t know because today I was with the medium [compound front tyre], but probably it can drop more than the hard [compound front tyre],” he said.

“But, for the🧔 rest, in the rear, also the soft [compound tyre] will be not the race choice꧒ because at the end, in the last two or three laps, it has dropped a lot.”