DOUBLE “DEBUT” FOR GRESINI RACING IN THE AMERICAN CONTINENT
After the exhilarating start to the season with the win in Qatar and the adventurous challenge under the rain at Mandalika, the MotoGP paddock moves to two circuits which are almost new to Team Gresini MotoGP. In a matter of seven days, the Italian team will tackle the #ArgentinaGP and the #AmericasGP.
Gresini Racing never raced as an independent team at Termas de Rio Honda, even though the Faenza-based squad logo did get a taste of the podium under the ‘Sol de Mayo’ (May sun): we have to go all the way back to October 23rd 1998 to relive Alex Barros’s third place finish in the Argentine Grand Prix at the Juan and Oscar Galvez circuit.
The team only did one appearance at the “Circuit of the Americas” in 2013, with Alvaro Bautista crossing the line in 8th place. There are fond memories of racing in the United States of America for the team, however, as Marco Melandri clinched a third-place finish in 2006 and 2007 at Laguna Seca, while Alex De Angelis was second at Indy in 2009.
Enea Bastianini has a fourth place as best result in Argentina (2018, Moto3 class), while in Texas he finished second in the same year and above all he was sixth last year in his MotoGP debut season. Fabio Di Giannantonio also holds good memories of both tracks: he was on the podium at Termas in 2018 and at Austin the year before (both in Moto3).
ENEA BASTIANINI #23
“I like the Argentine track a lot and due to Covid it’s been a while since we last went there, so it will be great to return. We come from a strange race in Indonesia: conditions were not the best, but we still improved a lot in the wet and that’s not a small thing, so I’m happy. CoTA is quite a particular circuit, and it won’t be easy to get up to speed there. I think it will surely be simpler with the Ducati 2021 compared to last year… I can’t wait to get back on the road.”
FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO #49
“Finally we go back to Argentina… We did not go there in the last two years and I think it’s a really nice track. It’ll surely be dirty, a little bit like Mandalika, so I don’t exclude that the dry set-up we found in Indonesia may work as a solid basis for that circuit as well. What about America… one of my favourite stops of the year: it’s a very demanding track, but I’ve always done quite well and been quick, so honestly I cannot wait to racing there with the MotoGP. Surely the speed will be incredible, with very hard braking, I’m so looking forward to it.
