Arriving at the season-opening Australian Round with a field full of changes, Race 1 at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit was a stunning note to kick off the 2026 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) put the rest of the field on notice that he and his Independent Ducati team are not content with fighting for top tens; he instead showed his uncanny adaptation to the Panigale V4 R, landing his maiden podium in the category in the first race back in the Championship.

DÉJÀ VU: “It’s like my World Supersport debut back in 2022, I won the first race in Aragon, to do the same here in WorldSBK is great, I’m really excited”

The #34 turned heads in testing earlier in the week, where he landed in on the business end of the timesheet in P6. While it is true that he rides the new and improved model of the Ducati Panigale V4 R – a bike that has always performed well at Phillip Island’s fast corner layout – Baldassarri outpaced other riders like Factory Ducati newcomer Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), and even two-time World Champion Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team).

On what the rostrum result means to him, Baldassarri said: “It’s like my World Supersport debut back in 2022, I won the first race in Aragon, to do the same here in WorldSBK is great, I’m really excited. It’s a big relief for me, we did a very good job, all the Ducati guys. It was a great environment in the box. We worked step by step, and the feeling from the first full dry session was good. From there, we continued building and now have a podium in our first race. It means a lot to us, and we want to continue improving in this spirit.”

COMPOSURE WHEN IT COUNTS: “I tried to be as precise as possible; in the end, I was able to get on the podium”

His adaptation to the platform is very impressive, but his performance in Race 1 is even more impressive. After starting back in seventh place, the Italian flew off the line and at lights out, seizing P4 by Lap 4. From there, he fought with the resurgent bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team pair of Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani. He disposed of Lowes by Turn 5 and scrapped with the Italian #47 throughout the rest of the encounter. As the laps wound down, so did his tyres, all while ‘El Bocia’ was gaining on him, sector after sector. He triumphed in the end, earning his first WorldSSP podium and his Team GoEleven’s first podium in a full-length race since this same Australian Round back in 2025.

On how he managed the critical final laps of Race 1, Baldassarri said: “The last few laps were like an entire separate race. In the last five laps, I was struggling a lot. I had a big moment in the left-hand Turn 3; I completely lost the rear and thought to myself, ‘maybe I need to slow down a lot’ to finish top five. I wanted to forget those worries and just be as precise as possible, and in the end, I made it to the podium. For Sunday, I feel ready. For me, in MotoE last year, it was essentially only sprint races. Races of six or seven laps, so qualifying well means a lot.“

On his view of their engagement in the final laps, Bassani said: “I feel like I had several opportunities to overtake several times, but I didn’t have much left. I tried something in the last corner to try to overtake on the straight, but that was impossible. It’s part of the game, and we will try again tomorrow, I’m confident in my rhythm and we have two more chances.”

Can Baldassarri keep his form in the final two races at Phillip Island on Sunday? Tune in to catch every corner with the WorldSBK VideoPass!