The 2020 Moto2 world champion claimed his first victory in the premier class and the Gresini team’s first since 2006 when he stormed to the win in the opening round of the 2022 campaign on his year-old Ducati.
Having put in his best-ever MotoGP qualifying of second, Bastianini was expected to be in the hunt for the win on Sunday given he scored both of his podiums last year from outside of the top 10 on the grid.
But Bastianini felt his potential was simply to score a podium in the 22-lap Qatar GP and not take the win.
“The first one was unexpected because it was great for me today to go on the podium,” Bastianini said.
“To do a victory was so unexpected, but I saw in [team boss] Nadia [Padovani’s] eyes the motivation of Fausto [Gresini] to advance with this team.
“Also, when I see all the faces of my guys it’s so brilliant.”
Padovani took over ownership of the Gresini team when he husband Fausto died of COVID-19 last year and continued on with the squad’s return…
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