The Ducati rider who thought he wouldn’t finish the Portuguese WorldSBK

Lorenzo Baldassarri says he was “finished” after only four laps of FP1 at the Portuguese WorldSBK and did not know if he would be able to finish the races.

Baldassarri ultimately made the finish in all three World Superbike races at Portimao, taking a strong top-six in Race 2.

But he battled physical problems from the start of the weekend, including arm pump.

“We have to be happy because I did a good job and I found myself in good shape riding the bike,” Lorenzo Baldassarri told WorldSBK.com after Race 2 in Portimao.

“Just I had the problem with arm pump here because this track, especially after the ‘rollercoaster’ – you go downhill and then you go uphill – here it’s very difficult. 

“Thankfully I’m good shape so I could manage to finish the race [on Saturday], but I was very worried about today, about doing the race because sometimes I was struggling rolling off the throttle. 

“So, now we have to fix. I think it’s not a big problem, I don’t need the surgery, it’s just I need some time because I arrived here a bit inflamed with my arms. In FP1 [...] I was finished after four laps. 

“So, I was worried, but we managed to finish the weekend.”

Baldassarri added that he was satisfied with his weekend in Portimao as it was a weekend he knew would be difficult after finishing on the podium in Australia.

“We have to be grateful for the weekend because I know after Australia it was not easy to confirm our speed coming back in Europe because all went very good,” he said.

“Also [in Australia] we had two days of testing before the race, we had time on the bike.

“Here, coming back after doing the test this winter in the rain condition, it was not easy to confirm the speed. But, at the end of the weekend, we struggled a lot but we improved every time and at the end of the weekend we confirmed the speed and the good rhythm until the end.”