BASTIANINI TAKES FIFTH AS ACOSTA IS CONTENT WITH SIXTH IN QATAR

Enea Bastianini turned a strong launch from ninth on the grid into fifth place at the Qatar Grand Prix, finishing 6.9 seconds behind winner Marco Bezzecchi. The Red Bull Tech3 KTM rider was already fifth by lap two and spent much of the race behind fellow KTM rider Pedro Acosta. Acosta was looking for a tow to raise his front tyre pressure; Bastianini passed him with four laps remaining.

“It was a hard race,” Bastianini said. He felt well placed through the opening corner and hoped to stay with Acosta and Marc Márquez in the fight for the podium, but Márquez pulled away during the middle phase. Bastianini also had pressure from Ai Ogura throughout the race, while persistent chatter in the left-hand turns made it difficult to push. He said the problem had affected the team all weekend and worsened during Saturday’s sprint.

Bastianini described his ride as nervous, saying he was pushing hard in pursuit of a podium that still eluded him. He tried to stay calm and preserve his tyres, but when Márquez increased the pace, Bastianini followed and could not match it. “His pace was better than mine,” he said.

Despite the handling issue, Bastianini was the leading KTM finisher and said the team had done a good job. With two events and four races left, he said he wanted to reward the team with a podium in one of his remaining opportunities. He is set to move to Trackhouse Aprilia next year and sits tenth in the championship, immediately behind injured Ducati factory rider Pecco Bagnaia.

Acosta, meanwhile, finished sixth, half a second behind Bastianini and around ten seconds behind Bezzecchi. He had passed Márquez on lap three after a strong start, but could not sustain the pace to challenge for the podium. The KTM factory rider said tyre pressure was an issue, compounded by a separate bike problem that appeared for the first time in the Grand Prix and slowed him. The team still needs to establish what caused it. Acosta escaped a penalty for falling below the minimum tyre-pressure limit.

“I didn’t have the pace to fight with Marc,” Acosta said. He believed fourth place was within reach and that a podium fight might have been possible, but Márquez had to be allowed to go. Acosta said Márquez initially held back before raising his speed later in the race.

Despite missing out on a higher finish, Acosta said he was happy with the weekend, believing the team had made the right decisions and managed to turn things around after a difficult start. He had failed to qualify directly for Q2 for the first time in 2026 and had also lost track time to technical problems. Acosta said neither the circuit conditions nor the wind had changed significantly. His two sixth places brought him ten points each, but Bezzecchi extended his championship advantage, while Ai Ogura moved to within 15 points of Acosta.