Axel Bassani “quite happy” after second Bimota WorldSBK test

Axel Bassani’s second test on the Bimota KB998 WorldSBK bike saw him show strong pace over long runs as well as decent one-lap speed.

Although Bassani said his focus was mostly on race pace, he was also happy with his one-lap speed, which was comparable with his teammate, Alex Lowes, who Bassani called “one of the best riders in the world” with regards to time attacks.

“We worked a lot on race pace, and I am quite happy,” Bassani told WorldSBK.com.

“It was really good, and I am also quite happy about doing a fast lap. I am not the best of all, but we ran the same pace as Alex [Lowes] and he is one of the best riders in the world over one lap. We did more or less the same lap time, so that is really good.

“I think we understand which way we have to take during the winter break.

“Now, I think everyone needs to relax a little bit, to enjoy home and family. For sure we will think about the bike but it is also important to stop and relax and we will see everyone again next year.”

Bassani’s crew chief, Marcel Duinker, shared Bassani’s optimism about his pace on longer runs, and was overall enthused by the state of the Bimota WorldSBK project ahead of the break from testing over the winter.

“I think everybody can be happy and satisfied now that we are going into the holiday period,” said Duinker to WorldSBK.com.

“Axel [Bassani] feels very comfortable on the bike and is riding with a lot of confidence. He put on a good show and on both race tyres and SCQ tyres he was one of the fastest guys.

“His pace on a race tyre was honestly very impressive. We also did a long run and tested some small items.

“This was only our second day of testing with this machine. We made some small changes to the bike where we knew we needed to improve, and we got some positive results.”