Bastianini earned a call-up to t🍎he factory Ducati squad ahead of Jorge Martin due to his impressive 2022 with Gresini Racing, where he won the second-most races of t💦he year behind only title-winner Francesco Bagnaia.

He entered this year where his rivalry with 🌠Bagnaia was expected to be a major talking point but he hasn’t yet fully recovered from a shoulder injury suffered at the opening round.

"Martín is pr🐽oving this year to be very, very fast,” Bastianini is quoted by .

"But I'm not bothered by rumours, Ducati believe💫s in me. 

“I know what my♌ potential can🐼 be, I just have to try to squeeze it.”

He is still sharing the box with Bagnaia 🌠who leads the championship and is trying to fend off Martin and Marco 🌳Bezzecchi.

“Pecco is always very confident and that is why he is competitive on all tracks,” his🥀 teammate said.

The three Ducati riders - 💟each from different teams - in contention for the MotoGP championship must make Bastianini rueful that he꧑ couldn’t fight for glory, as he was expected to do.

Asked to pick a champion betဣween Bagnaia and Martin, he said: “I think both are very fast and consistent. I see a battle until the last t𓆉wo races.”

Bastianini has🉐 complꦐeted just three grands prix in 2023 so far.

Even after recovering from the shoulder injury and slowly building rhꦗythm on his facto✃ry Ducati, he injured himself again in Barcelona.

Bastianini needed surgeries on his ankle a🔯nd hand and will remain absent from this weekend’s Jap𝄹anese MotoGP.

This year is bastard," he said. 

"At the beginning of th𝔍e season it was verꦐy hard to get injured, because the championship was at stake. 

“Now, knowing that it is impossible to fight fꦅor t🔯he title, I feel a little calmer.”

Bastianini will have a long 🌠lap penalty waiting for him when he returns, a punishment for causing a pile-up in Barcelona which then resulted in his latest injuries.

"A⛎lthough it is wrong to sayಌ it, I am not bothered by the criticism after the crash in Barcelona, these things happen," he said. 

"It's true that I didn't take into a✤ccount that🦩 there, inside the first corner, the asphalt was very dirty and I couldn't brake. 

“In ꦉa ♚good trajectory I would have stopped, but it was not my fault.”