Axel Bassani “enjoyed” Aragon WorldSBK comeback, penalties “not good for the sport”

Aragon WorldSBK Race 1 was an enjoyable one for Axel Bassani, finishing eighth after starting last on the grid, but the reason for his lowly starting position was a source of disagreement for the Italian.

Bassani qualified 11th in Superpole, but was given a back-of-the-grid penalty for ignoring yellow flags in FP2.

The Bimota rider recovered well to finish eighth, and admitted he “had a lot of fun” in his ride through the World Superbike field.

“It’s been not an easy race because we started from the back of the grid for a penalty,” Axel Bassani told WorldSBK.com after Race 1.

“I accept it, it’s part of the game. 

“I only tried to do my race, my pace. I knew that my pace was quite good to arrive near to the top-10. 

“I had a lot of fun because I did a lot of overtakes. I had to study when I arrived to Gardner and Vierge because Gardner is really strong in braking and Vierge’s engine was faster than mine. 

“I really enjoyed the race, we did this result especially for the team because all the work they did yesterday and today we had to start from the back of the grid – it’s not the best solution, but in the end we did good.”

The penalty itself was not something Bassani agreed with, the Italian feeling that riders should be able to discuss sanctions with Race Direction before they’re awarded.

“It’s not my job to decide penalties,” he said.

“I’m a rider. All the riders can do mistakes because now the level is really high, we have not a lot of time decide also in the practice. 

“Okay, for normal people it’s only a ‘free practice’, but for us it’s a really important moment to understand how the bike works. So, for us, every lap is really important. 

“So, when we are pushing, we see a yellow flag but we also have the capacity to decide if it’s dangerous to push or not. If the bike is in the middle [of the track] we stop to push, but if we see [the track is] clean we continue, taking less risk but we continue. 

“I think, for the future, it’s better if the riders can speak with Race Direction to decide together because I think it’s normal. 

“We are professional athletes working hard, all the team is working a lot. 

“For the sport I think it’s not really good to destroy the race like this with penalties. This is my opinion.”