Axel Bassani “realistic” about Bimota potential after strong Dutch WorldSBK Friday

Bimota WorldSBK rider Axel Bassani is trying to stay “realistic” about his goals after finishing second-fastest on day one of this weekend’s Dutch WorldSBK.

Bassani was 0.252 seconds behind the fastest rider, current World Superbike points leader Nicolo Bulega, but ahead of the likes of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista thanks to a late lap in FP2.

The Italian admitted that he felt good on the KB998 on its first trip to Assen despite a tricky start in the morning.

“It felt quite good,” Bassani told WorldSBK.com after Friday in Assen.

“We didn’t start very well, P14 or something like that [15th], but the feeling was good.

“In FP2, we started trying some different tyres, the bike was working so I’m really happy.

“The feeling is really good, it’s only Friday, only FP2 but we have to be happy, we lose out somewhat in the straight, but we know we have a good bike and that we can improve something.

“Ducati’s pace is quite different from ours, but we will do our best.”

Looking ahead to Saturday, Bassani was unsure of what was to come, but was clear about his target.

“It’s difficult to say how tomorrow will go, in WorldSBK anything could happen,” he said.

“We will try to do like always and be in the top-10, but we need to be calm and realistic with our expectations.

“A podium is always everyone’s goal, but we have to be realistic and do the best we can do.”