Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) enjoyed a strong start to his week in Australia on Day 1 of the Official Test. ‘El Bocia’ finished second overall, only behind Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), as he led Bimota’s charg at the iconic Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. Bassani claimed third in FP1 and second in FP2 as he got off to a quick start, while teammate Alex Lowes was also in the top six.

Bassani’s day got off to a rocket start in Free Practice 1 when he set a 1’30.239s to claim third place, three tenths behind Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) in second and just under eight tenths behind Bulega. In total, the #47 completed 26 laps in the opening two-hour session but his longest stint was five laps, which was his first run. In this run, he set three laps in the 1’30s, ranging from 1’30.708s to 1’30.838s, a 1’31.130s and a 1’32.683s. In the stints following, 11 of his 12 timed laps were in the 1’30s bracket.

It was a similar story in Free Practice 2 for the Italian. Although he completed 35 laps, again his longest stint was just five laps and, once again, it was his first run. All of these laps were in the 1’30s bracket, with his fastest a 1’30.097s and his slowest a 1’30.717s. His fastest time came in run five, which was a short two-lap stint, both of which were in the 1’29s: a 1’29.636s, his fastest time of the day, and a 1’29.989s. He managed four times in the 1’29s in total.

Discussing his Day 1 in Australia, Bassani said: “It’s been quite a good day. Finally, we’ve done some laps on the bike. It’s nice to be back on the bike to do some laps. It was really hot, so it’s been difficult physically to stay calm and always do good laps when we leave the box. In the end, I felt quite good. We tried some things on the bike. I’m happy because especially inside the box, I have a good feeling. Everyone’s working really hard.

“We focused especially on the front. We tried some different stuff but, in the end, I used both bikes, but the lap time was always the same. I’m always quite consistent and this is good. We need to understand what we need especially for the race and a long run, so I think tomorrow we’ll do a long run to check my feeling on the bike.”

Bassani’s time of a 1’29.636s was around three tenths quicker than his Tissot Superpole time from the 2025 round, when he set a 1’29.970s. It was a good day on the other side of the box too, with Lowes finishing sixth in the combined classification with a 1’30.259s. Of course, this year, Bimota have a year’s worth of data to utilise with the KB998 Rimini, whereas in 2025, they were starting from scratch at every circuit.

Discussing what he hopes for this year and working with new crew chief Uri Pallares, Bassani stated: “I expect to use what we did last year now we have one more year of experience. We have to be smart to try to use this thing in a good way. We have to not put too much pressure on us because we only have two bikes on track. We have a lot of work to do. It’s going good with Uri. This is really the first day we’ve worked together, we have a lot of work to do but at the moment, it’s really good.”

Can Bassani continue his form throughout the visit to Australia? Find out using the WorldSBK VideoPass!