Enea Bastianini is going to his home race in Misano after a season best in MotoGP in Aragon.
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The Italian rookie came in ninth – also his best qualifying position of the season. He finished sixth after late picking up some formidable names.
Bastianini actually lost places during the early stages, but the Esponsorama Ducati rider regrouped before a long battle with championship leaders Fabio Quartararo and Takaaki Nakagami.
After beating the Yamaha rider for ninth place, Bastianini overtook Iker Lecuona before chasing two of the last three race winners in MotoGP.
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Bastianini did light work for Jorge Martin and then KTM rider Brad Binder who normally does the late race moves.
Bastianini added after his best result of the season: “I feel really good because it was a perfect weekend. It was important to get to this race.
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“It is fantastic to get this sixth place today and I fought a lot with Fabio every lap [Quartararo], with Taka [Nakagami].
“In the last five laps I fought with Jorge Martin and Binder and got there before them.
“It’s a great result for me and also for my team. Now I’m more confident for Misano, but we have to stay focused all week like here.”
“After we see what we can do and whether it is possible to do better or not. But I’ll do my best to do it again.”
While his result in Aragon may have come as a surprise to some, Bastianini seemed increasingly confident in the final laps.
Apart from a couple of crashes at Silverstone that influenced his weekend, the former Moto2 champion showed impressive speed at this location and still finished 12th – a result he achieved in the second Austrian race.