Qualifying
After working with his team on Friday afternoon to improve his feeling in the low grip conditions, Bastianini showed strong speed in FP2 to place 12th. The Italian also had a promising opening to Q1 to sit third but lost the front of his KTM RC16 at Turn 1 when pushing in the final two minutes – leaving him fourth in the session and 14th overall.

Viñales continues to get quicker as the weekend progresses and shaved a tenth off his personal best time from Friday to qualify 18th.

Sprint
If Friday’s conditions were tough, Saturday’s weather at the Mandalika International Circuit was even more demanding for Tech3’s riders. Track temperatures were a punishing 63 degrees while humidity stood at 73% ahead of the race start at 15:00 (UTC+8).

Bastianini started steadily and held position on the opening lap, but was confident of his pace over the 13-lap shootout. 14th by lap four, ‘La Bestia’ enjoyed an intense fight with Jack Miller but knew he could continue moving forward.

A typical late burst saw him pass Brad Binder, Miller and Luca Marini in the final three laps to score 11th place. Impressively, Bastianini was just 0.033 slower than his personal best time from the Sprint on the final lap.

The sweltering conditions were the ultimate test for Viñales’ physical condition. The Spaniard was pleased with how his body responded to the track’s numerous fast changes of direction. Feeling physically stronger than a week ago in Japan, ‘Top Gun’ won out in a fight for 18th place with Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Sunday will offer up another chance for Tech3 to improve on today’s results. Race day’s schedule kicks off one hour later than usual with Warm Up at 10:40 (UTC+8) and the 27-lap race at 15:00 (UTC+8).

Enea Bastianini: “It was a better day than yesterday because today I crashed just once! But it wasn’t the best to be honest and I’m not really happy with the Sprint. At a track like this one when it’s very hot, it’s so difficult to overtake. You suffer a lot with the tyres. I took eleventh at the end of the race, but I was hoping for more. We have some understeer but you can only solve this problem by starting toward the front. If you are behind other riders for even just half a lap, you are already fighting with your bike. For tomorrow I think it will be impossible for us to use the soft front tyre. This year’s medium hasn’t been the best for us but we need to use it. Let’s see how it goes but I’m confident I will have something at the end of the race. A top ten finish is the target.”

Maverick Viñales: “It’s been an intense weekend. I knew this track would be a challenge because last year I withdrew from the round. I’m happy in one way because I’m not losing so much time in the fast changes of direction here, which was my weakest point after the operation. I’m so happy I didn’t do a third surgery because I can survive like this. Race-by-race I’ll get stronger. I can see my arms and shoulders are building strength each week. Tomorrow the aim is to keep learning the bike. I feel I’m improving each time I get on it. I know I still need to make a big jump so I need to keep riding and pushing. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.”

Nicolas Goyon, Team Manager: “It’s obvious we’re a little disappointed after today’s Sprint result in Indonesia. I believe Enea’s pace is better than what he’s shown so far. He crashed twice yesterday afternoon and another time this morning in Qualifying, so we had to start further back than expected. 14th wasn’t a disaster but he could’ve qualified higher. Then in the Sprint he was 16th on the first lap and recovered five positions to finish eleventh. He overtook a few guys, which makes us think he’s not so slow. He wasn’t really happy after the race but I’m sure there is much more to come tomorrow. 

“On the other side of the garage, it’s obvious Maverick is struggling with the bike – I don’t think it’s to do with his physical condition, but he doesn’t feel comfortable. At this kind of circuit, pushing without the full trust of the bike is obviously not something easy to do. We still have one day to improve this and we hope he can do that tomorrow.”