Qualifying
Fast in a straight line and rapid through Sectors 3 and 4 of the Balaton Park Circuit, Bastianini found it difficult to tackle the track’s slow chicanes on a slightly warmer Saturday morning in Hungary.

Although ‘La Bestia’ managed to shave close to 0.2s off Friday’s personal best lap time in Q1, the Italian was two tenths shy of a top two place, which left him 14th on the grid.

On the other side of the garage, Viñales continues to improve on the 2026 KTM RC16. Still struggling through the rapid changes of direction at slow speed, the #12 rider was also unable to progress through Q1, and qualified 21st.

Sprint
Starting from the middle of the fifth row, Bastianini enjoyed a strong start, and managed the space around him well through the tight Turns 1 and 2. By the end of lap one, he had gained four places.

The Italian wasn’t finished there. Passes on Fabio Di Giannantonio on lap two and Francesco Bagnaia on lap three quickly followed to lift him to eighth. The #23 rider was then pushing to catch Jorge Martin and Diogo Moreira just ahead in the fight for sixth.

While unable to bridge the gap, Bastianini gave it his all. The Italian posted his personal best time on lap 11 of 13 to come home eighth, just over seven seconds back of victor Marc Márquez.

On the other side of the Red Bull KTM Tech3 box, Viñales had a tricky first lap. Failing to disengage his start device at Turn 1, he ran wide at several turns, which meant he dropped a place on the first lap. After passing Alex Rins on lap five and Franco Morbidelli on lap seven, ‘Top Gun’ continued to gain experience while coming home in 19th.

Red Bull KTM Tech3 will be back in action tomorrow for the main event of the Grand Prix of Hungary. Both Bastianini and Viñales will seek to rise up the order over 26 demanding laps when the main race kicks off at 14:00 (UTC+2).

Enea Bastianini: “My potential was a bit higher but all weekend I’ve made mistakes in the heavy braking areas. It was very difficult to stop the bike and that also happened in my second run in Q1.

“In the afternoon, we improved a bit in the Sprint. In Turn 1 I was really competitive and could overtake some riders. My pace wasn’t so bad, but I suffered a lot with front edge grip, like we did in the last two or three rounds. The problem starts after two or three laps and the front starts to move. I then struggle to improve as the race goes on, like I’ve done in the past. We’ll try and improve this for tomorrow.”

Maverick Viñales: “I need to understand how to ride this bike. It’s very complicated, and I’m not able to find any strong points which I can rely on to make the lap time. It feels like every time I brake late, I miss the corner, or I try to increase my corner speed, and I find the bike doesn’t turn. I need to work on this.

“In the Sprint I couldn’t disengage the start device at Turn 1 and it stayed down for a few corners. But it was OK, because I then had some space to work. We put in a different setting after Qualifying and we saw some positives and negatives that would’ve been hard to see if I was riding in the group. We’re working and trying to understand how to be quicker.”

Nicolas Goyon, Team Manager: “Honestly, we all expected a little more coming to Hungary, but we’ve been struggling a bit. Enea only qualified 14th today, but he had a good start and ended up in a good P8 position after passing Pecco Bagnaia and Fabio Di Giannantonio. So, this is a good result here. His lap times in the Sprint were very similar to Acosta’s, and he ended up in P2 today. All in all, this gives us some hope for tomorrow. With a bit of work, we should get a good result in the main race.

“On the other side of the garage the weekend has been more difficult for Maverick. We don’t hide behind the condition of his shoulder for the lack of performance. He’s just struggling with his bike at the moment. We’re still looking for a fast setting for him. We need to keep our heads down and try and bring his confidence back. It’s time to work and let’s see the result tomorrow.”