Rinaldi and Bassani spat continues - “I don’t know what happened to his brain”

Michael Ruben Rinaldi has not backed down in his criticism of Axel Bassani, following the pair’s controversial incident during Race 1 of the Catalunya WorldSBK round.

Robert Jones

11 May 2023

Axel Bassani, Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati WorldSBK Catalunya

Rinaldi and Bassani made contact twice during the first of three WorldSBK races in Catalunya, after an overtake from Rinaldi at turn three saw him gently move Bassani off line.

Visibly angered by the manoeuvre, Bassani retaliated with his own forceful move on the exit of turn 10, but this time it resulted in a crash for Rinaldi.

After calling out Bassani post-race and claiming the Motocorsa Ducati rider made him crash on purpose, Rinaldi was not shy in reaffirming his feelings: "On the first flying lap, Axel tried to overtake me, and I was a little bit surprised because, during practice, he was pretty slow compared to the top group.

"Maybe he wanted to do some parts of the race in front. If you see his time at the end of the race, it’s pretty bad compared to the top.

"Because he’s an Independent rider and I’m a factory rider, he has more fight to overtake me. I re-overtook him and when I did that, there was room.

"We touched, it was a hard overtake from me, but clean. That means the rider doesn’t lose time, the rider doesn’t crash, and the rider doesn’t go to the green. I don’t know what happened to his brain because, after I overtook him, I rode well.

"He ran into me on purpose because you can do this if you think ‘I want to make him crash’. He made me crash. There was no space. It’s not a place you can overtake, and you don’t think there’s someone on the outside. He knows what he did."

Bassani was given a Long-lap penalty for his role in the incident before fading badly during the closing stages.

But when speaking about the clash with Rinaldi, the Italian called it a normal incident: "He tried to overtake me and touched me. After, I tried to overtake him to stay in second position. I think we had the potential to be on the podium. We touched; I think it’s a normal racing incident.

"Sometimes it happens. I had my penalty and I finished in seventh position, so I think it’s okay. I saw the possibility to make an overtake so I went in.

"He tried to close the door to defend his position. I think it’s a normal contact in racing. I repeat, I had penalty, I did it, that’s it. He made the same overtake in Turn 3, this is racing. Every rider tries to put in 100% every lap and tries to defend their position.

"He tried to defend his position in Turn 3, and I tried to at Turn 10. I think it’s a normal contact. I don’t have problems with Michael.

"For me, he’s a normal rider like the rest of the grid. If he has a problem with me, he can come to my box and we can speak."