Enea Bastianini took a third place in the Austrian MotoGP, something he confessed to being happy about, despite clꩲearly lacking pace compar🐲ed to Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.

Bastianini started seventh, but was third by the end of the first sector on lap one. After his tyre saving excellence in Silverstone, it was expected that such a stron൩g starting position would put Bastianini in the perfect place to take advantage of his late race pace in the closing stages of the Red Bull Ring encounter.

However, 𒆙that’s not how it t🌠urned out, and Bastianini finished seven seconds behind his victorious teammate, Bagnaia.

Bast♑ianini explained why the stop-start Red Bull Rinꦺg layout didn’t allow him to exploit his late race strength as he did in the more flowing Silverstone.

“This time, this moment didn’t arrive,” Bastianini said in the post-race press conferenc, “ℱbecause this track is not like the usual tracks. It’s strange because we have to brake many times, and also a lot of braking straight.

“When you have to do one acceleration, you spin like the other riders, you can’t do anything to save a bit t♒he tyre. I was only happy to be on the third place tod🌠ay.”

Bastia🗹nini had missed pace all weekend compared to Bagnaia and🍃 Martin, hence his seventh-place qualifying. As a result, his third place is seen by him as a positive.

“At the end, we have saved a bit the weekend because I 🔜have suffered a lot from Friday, a lot with the front, especially on entry,” he said. “Today for the race it was a bit better, also the start was not bad, I was in third place after the first corner. This has helped me a bit for the race.

“After [t💧he start] my pace was not like Pecco an🦄d Jorge today, but after this difficult condition in that Grand Prix, we can be happy.”

Having been able to compete with Bagnaia and Martin in Silverstone, and indeed beat them, why was he so far away from them in Austria? What we💮♎re Bagnaia and Martin doing better than him?

“I think it’s difficult to say this🌠, because these two riders are so different, their riding styles are so different,” Bastianini said.

“Pecco, sometimes has an i💞ncredible braking point, sometimes he can brake much later than the other riders of Ducati.

“Jorge is incredible sometimes 𝓰in the middle of the corner, he has a lot of speed and sometimes ꦦwith less angle, it’s strange.

“I think sometimes I have 🦋a mix of this and I can fight with these two riders, but sometimes I have suffered, like today, and I’m a bit behind.”