Bimota development costs one rider “some speed” at extra Portimao WorldSBK test

A third day of testing at Portimao for Bimota last week finally yielded some dry conditions, but Axel Bassani felt he lacked ultimate speed as his focus was shifted to development.

The two-day World Superbike test on 9–10 March was, like the January tests in Europe, significantly affected by rain. Bimota was one of the manufacturers that therefore decided to run a third day of testing last week on Friday 13 March.

Axel Bassani was pleased that the third day brought dry conditions, but spent most of the day testing items rather than setting up the bike for the race, perhaps explaining his dissatisfaction with the ultimate lap time.

“We did some laps in really dry conditions at Portimao, with nice weather and sunshine all day,” Axel Bassani said after the Friday test.

“We tested a lot of items and we did not really work on set-up for the race. We tried some new things on the bike and we understood some things and also where we need to work.

“We missed some speed in terms of lap times, but I am happy about the work we did with the team. 

“For the race weekend we will work again, and we will be back in Portimao soon.”

Oriol Pallares, Bassani’s crew chief, added that Bimota chose to focus “more on the future” than the Portimao race itself during the third test day.

“It has been a very productive day because we tested a lot of items and ideas we had in mind,” Pallares said.

“We had to forget a little bit about race preparation for the Portimao weekend and think a little more about the future. 

“We will face four race weekends, without a test in the middle, until Misano, so we did a lot of future work and trying to understand items and ideas. I am sure when we put them all together we will be quite ready for the Portimao race and the following ones.”

Lowes’ focus on setup

Where Bassani explained afterwards that his work on the third day was about trying new items, his teammate Alex Lowes was more focused on preparing the Portimao race weekend on 27–29 March.

It was effective work, Lowes reflected afterwards, having been able to work on his bike setup before completing a long run in the afternoon.

“The test went well and I am happy to have got our work done in sunny conditions,” Lowes said.

“We tried some quite big changes on the bike that we have been wanting to try recently. We rode for just over half a day and did nearly 80 laps in a short space of time, so it was hard work. 

“We finished with a long run and we have plenty of information now on where we need to improve for [the] race weekend. 

“My confidence on the bike felt good, I enjoyed it, and I was happy to get plenty of laps in. 

“A big thank you to the guys for staying out this week. We have been unlucky with the weather all winter, so there has been a lot of effort from everybody to stay out in Portugal and test again. I really appreciate it. 

“I think it is going to put us in a good position when we return for the Portimao race weekend.”