A podium in his first season in Moto2 hinted at greater things to come, though few could have expected Enea Bastianini (Kalex) to leap from tenth in his rookie season in 2019 to World Champion just twelve months later.
• All the 2020 FIM World champions
Affectionately known as ‘The Beast’, the twenty-two-year-old Italian races with the number thirty-three to mark his age – three years and three months – when he first threw his leg over a motorcycle. Not only did he start riding at an early age, he started winning when he was very young and by the time he was eleven he had already claimed two national minimoto titles and a European crown.
Making his Moto3 debut in 2014, Bastianini won the coveted ‘Rookie of the Year’ award on his way to ninth in the series before collecting back-to-back FIM medals with third in 2015 and second in 2016. Now, with the Moto2 silverware in his trophy cabinet, he is preparing to move into the top-flight MotoGP category in 2021.
It was a close and competitive campaign in 2020 with Bastianini going bar-to-bar with fellow Italian Luca Marini (Kalex) and Britain’s Sam Lowes (Kalex) and heading into the final round – the Grande Prémio meo de Portugal – in late November the title was still undecided. With his three wins and seven podium finishes, Bastianini held the advantage though and fifth place was good enough for him to take the title by just nine points from Marini who won a tie-break from Lowes for second.
PALMARES
FIM Moto2 World Champion: 2020