Enea Bastianini 🌳was on the podium in the Solidarity Barcelona MotoGP Sprint for the seventh Saturday race in succession, taking second place from Jorge Martin on th𝕴e final lap.

Bas꧂tianini passed Martin on the downhill entry to turn five because he felt stronger than the Pramac Ducati rider in that part of the track. It was a move Bastianini said he’d been planning.

“I have planned a bit the overtake to Jorge [Martin], because in that point I was more confident to go d🐎irectly on the line and, well, I wa🍷s much faster,” Bastianini said.

“It’s not simple, because🐬 on the left side the temperature of the tyre is a bit cold, but for the rest,🍌 well, I overtake him.”

Turn five is a notorious corner at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya𒉰 because it is the second left-hander of the lap, and the first one where the riders brake while entering, because turn two comes immediately after turn one at the end of the front straight.

It means that the temperat♒ure of the left-hand-side of the tyres is cold when arriving at turn five, and the corner being downhill is another factor that can negatively affect the grip in that corner.

All of that means that passing in turn five can be a risk, in theory, but Bastianini saidꦕ he was “Safe, because I was very straight during the overtake. If there was a risk, probably it was possible for me to release the brake and go long.”

Repsol Honda’s Luca Marini agreed with Bastiꦕanini’s perspective, but only to a point.

Asked if if is risky to pass at turn fi♏ve, Marini simply said “No,” but his justification for this was the asymmetric hard-compound front tyre that Michelin has brought to Barcelona this weekend, because it is softer on the left-hand-side than the medium-compound front tyre:

“If it is cold and you have the full hard option [front tyre], yes, but now we have the double compound — on the left side is softer than the medium [compound front tyre♐] — so it’s much better than the past now, so to try an overtake 🥂there is okay, no problem.”

Bastianini joined Martin in running the medium-compound front tyre in the Sprint, but even still he was able to make thꦚe pass cleanly and without incident.

Leading at the start "wasn't in my mind"

Bastianini’s start was the key to his race. From eighth on the grid🅷 he led at turn two, although his teammate Francesco Bagnaia🅰 took the lead at turn three.

“It wasn’t in my mind, to be honest, to be first in the first corner,” Bastianini admitted, adding that he simply didn’t hav🌳e the pace to go with Bagnaia.

“Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] was with ꧅a bit better pace during the first two or three laps.

“Afterwards I bring my pace and I fight with Jorge. Our pace was really similar and 🦹we fought a lot for this second place.”

Aside from Bastianini’s turn five pass, he and Martin exchanged positions on multiple occa🧜sions at turn one, including on one occasion where Bastianini was pushed marginally off-track by martin on the outside of the first corner.

“ Sometiꦑmes it was a bit ♔on the limit, because one time we were out of the line, I was on the red,” Bastianini said.

“But 🧸when you fight for something important you have to give 100 per cen♏t in every lap, in every corner.

“Jorge did it for all the race, me also be⭕cause I fight also for something good.

“But for the rest, it was necessary for me to do a good race in Barcelona🔥 because every time it’s not simple this track for me, and it’s good to do a step today.”

Bastianini, in p𒁏articular, was strong at the end. It’s historically been a trait of the Italian, but a strong point that had vanisꦬhed somewhat in the recent flyaway races.

He said that he had made a change t🧔o the bike that he felt had helped, butꩲ that it’s not clear if it will help in Sunday’s full-distance race.

“We have to check better tomorrow, and tomorrow let’s see if ওalso the change on the bike works well for the end of the race,” Bastianini said.

“But🃏 today, yes, the last two or three laps the bike worked 🦂well, and also the grip was a bit more on the edge [of the tyre].”

About Sunday, Bastianini is unsure of his tyre choice, apart from that the soft-compound rear is not a🏅 viab💖le option.

“I don’t know because today I was with the medium [compou♏nd front tyre], but probably it can drop more than the hard [compound front tyre],” he said.

“But, for the rest, in the rear, also the soft [compound tyre] wi🗹ll be not the race ch𒈔oice because at the end, in the last two or three laps, it has dropped a lot.”