Enea Bastianini admits he is baffled by the difficulties he’s facing with using a soft rear tire on his KTM MotoGP bike, continuing a year-long struggle to qualify well for the Tech3 team. The Italian rider switched to KTM for the 2025 season after four years with Ducati, where he secured seven Grand Prix wins.
During this year’s pre-season testing, Bastianini found it hard to get comfortable with the KTM RC16, particularly when it came to the softer rear tires. His qualifying performances were notably tough, managing to reach Q2 only four times in 2025 and finishing in the top 10 just three occasions.
Despite these struggles, Bastianini delivered some strong moments, including a sprint podium in Brno and a third-place finish in the Catalunya Grand Prix. He wrapped up the season 14th overall with 112 points.
He explained his performance pattern: Fridays were inconsistent, Saturdays calmer, and Sundays competitive. Bastianini feels confident with medium tires during races but struggles with the soft tires that make him lose trust and prevent him from pushing hard. He noted the necessity of a two-month break to reset and work on improvements for next year.
Bastianini describes the soft rear tire as unsettling, causing the bike to push around corners and making turning much harder, whereas the medium tire allows better rear sliding and increased confidence with each lap. He believes the intense weekend schedule, with the need to find qualifying speed by Friday afternoon, may ultimately help him better understand his bike.
He also mentioned that sprints occasionally helped him run faster on race days, pointing out that during warm-ups, he was often quicker. However, when using sprint or soft tires, he finds himself at the back, attempting different bike setups without feeling comfortable, which is unusual for his riding style — a mystery even to him.
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Fan Take: Bastianini’s ongoing challenge with tire setup is a crucial storyline for MotoGP fans, highlighting how even top riders can struggle with bike adaptation. His perseverance and quest for answers could drive significant technical developments for KTM, potentially shaking up the competitive landscape in future seasons.
