We caught up with the reigning MotoGP™ eSport World Champion, Italy’s Trast73, while he is preparing for the 2022 season to hear his thoughts on last year’s victorious campaign.

It was a fantastic season full of twists. I was among the fastest in the championship since the first race and I think I deserved it! In the last two races I was struggling because I had some bike problems, but then I got 100 percent from every situation there in the live event, and thanks to this I brought home the third title. So for me the keys for this championship were the very high speed, and the ability to always remain calm, and being ready to take advantage of any opportunity.

They were two very different chapters. MotoGP™21 proved to be the most successful game ever. The setup of the bike was more realistic, as was managing the fuel, tyre wear, warnings, the long lap penalty… All departments improved and it was more realistic when playing it. In this year’s game we will have also the holeshot so let’s see!

I love BMWs and this is a fantastic, almost alien car. I will definitely go to do some laps on the track to test it well and then I will try to keep it as long as possible.

It’s early to say. Usually, when the world championship ends I take two or three months off, but now we are at the gates and I have to get back into hard training … how will I train? The head will count a lot this year. I will start the season not as reigning champion, but thinking of starting from zero as if nothing had happened. Hunger and determination will be key.

Sure, like every year new young talents will be added and it will be hard to beat them. I need to keep my speed to the limit and sometimes it will be necessary to play with experience. It’s hard to say now who they will be, but whoever they are, we must be ready to beat them

Trastevere73 was my father’s nickname. This is because he worked there in Trastevere (famous place in Rome) and he was born in 1973, like my mum. When I was younger, not being able to create my own, I started using his nickname and I liked it. I got attached to it and I decided to keep it.