Joining the factory Ducati team on the back of four victories for Gresini last season, Bastianini disastrously broke his shoulder when he was take♍n down by Luca Marini in the opening Portimao 𝔍Sprint.

That kept Bastianini sidelined until round 4 at Jerez, where he made a brief comeback before withdrawingꦇ due to the pain.

Bastianini’s shoulder had improved sufficiently to rejo♓in the championship from round 6 at Mugello, but a Turn 1 pile-up in Catalunya (round 11) sent him back to hospital with hand and ankle fractures.

Absent from the past three rounds, Ba💮stianini will now return at Mandalika, where he will face a lon🗹g lap penalty for triggering the Catalunya incident.

"I'm finally back on track with my team,” saiඣd Bastianini, who has a best fin🧸ish of eighth so far this year. “Having had to skip other races just as I was starting to feel comfortable on the Desmosedici GP was not what we needed.

“But after the operation, it was important to💎 dedicate a few weeks to recover as best I could, even if I'm still not 🏅100%.

“Now, we will have to 𓆏restart calmly and dedicate these last races to settle down and be competitive as soon as po🥂ssible. So I don't have high expectations for this weekend; I just want to work in the best possible way with my team."

The #23’s return will be a relief for Ducati with test rider Michele Pirro, who had been replacing Bastianini, himself injured ꦫin a clash at the Italian Sup♛erbike title decider.

Fellow injured riders Luca 𝄹Marini, Marco Bezzecchi, Alex Marquez and, possibly, Alex Rins are also set to attempt a return this weekend, which will re♐quire passing a medical check on Thursday.

Bastianini finished eleventꦓh for Gresini i𒅌n last year’s wet Mandalika race.