Enea Bastianini says he 🌳is still “completely free” to race Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia in tꩵhis weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix as the MotoGP title gets its first match point.

After winning the Thai GP last weekend, Bagnaia has cut Martin’s lead in the standings down ꦜto 17 points with just two rounds to go.

But th🎃e gap for Martin means this weekend’s Sepang event represents his first opportunity to wrap up the championship, with the Pramac rider needing to outscore Bagnaia by 21 points to avoid a f🎐inal round showdown.

Winner of last year’s Malaysian GP and always competitive at the Sepang track, Bastianini is b💦eing eyed up as a possible thorn in the side of the two title challengers as he also looks to beat Marc Marquez to third in the standings.

After Thailand, Bastianini said he would not turn to being a tailgunner for team-mate Bagnaia this weekend and cꦐonfirmed on Thursday at Sepang that he has not been given any instructions from Ducati to do so either.

“Yeah, I’m comꦯpletely free,” he said when asked by ltxcn.top if he’s ha꧙d any team orders.

“ I have also me something to bring at the end of the season, I can bring🍎 that third place.

“I am really close to that. Also Marquez, also me, in the last period have c🗹ommitted some mistakes and we have lost some points.

“But I ne♕ed to close that small back to try to fight with him in ꧅Valencia.”

With the ongoing flooding in the Valencia region, it is unclear at this stage whether the championship will be concluded at theꦬ Ricardo Tormo circuit in November.

Bastianini’s win at Sepang last year marked his firsꦇt as a factory team Ducati rider and came amid 🐻a difficult season of adapting to the GP23.

Explaining why he is so competitive at the Malaysian venue, Bastianini said: “It’s one of my favourite tracks🎀.

“I haveꦬ a really good memory of last year because after a difficult period arrived that victory.

“And it was so emotional for me. It’s difficult to ඣrepeat that result; that result will not be easy. But I’m here to try to do it.

“Probably because one🐬 of my strongest points is the corners on the right side, and also t💫he fast corners on the right side.

“Here we have too much 🍌of this and usually when we compare the data in that point, I’m much stronger compared to the other Ducati riders.

“But never say never. We have to try tomorrow and to s🥂ee if I can be competitive because every year is differ♛ent.”