“Not so good start for everybody” declares Ducati WorldSBK rider

The wet WorldSBK tests in January left few opportunities for positivity for most riders, including Lorenzo Baldassarri.

The Italian rider, who rode for GMT94 Yamaha in 2024, returns to World Superbike this year with the Go Eleven Ducati team. 

He’s not the only rider with a lot of learning to do this year, having been out of the championship for a season and with an updated version of the Panigale V4 R to dial in, and he admitted after the second day of the washed-out Portimao test that it hadn’t been a good start “for everybody” to this year’s WorldSBK campaign.

“It was [...] not so good start for everybody, I think, with these four days of test and rain,” said Lorenzo Baldassarri, speaking to WorldSBK.com.

“So, what I can say is I’m happy for the general feeling with my bike because I feel [like it’s] my bike, even if I didn’t have so many laps with it. But I’m confident for going to Australia with some feeling. 

“We have more wet than dry feeling, but okay, I can be happy because we have fixed the position on the bike, and ready to start working in Australia test.”

Baldassarri added that the low-grip conditions in Portimao – which were also an area of note for Yari Montella – allowed him and the Go Eleven team to work on settings for those kinds of specific conditions.

“The feeling was that the track was very slippery, and not easy to manage the rear grip, so we focused on to find some rear grip and work also on electronics,” he said.

“I think we reached our target for today.”

Looking to the final test in Phillip Island, Baldassarri said he is hoping for dry weather for the two days there before the first race on 20–22 February.

“During the next test I hope to spin some laps, to do all the test in dry conditions, and have some push laps and find the limit with this bike,” Baldassarri said.

“I feel that there is very high potential from the bike and all the package, so I want to use and understand until where I can push.”