Bimota WorldSBK team “still learning” Axel Bassani: “This is a process”

The learning process between Axel Bassani and his new crew chief, Oriol Pallares, remains ongoing after a mid-season test at Misano.

Bassani was with former title-winning crew chief Marcel Duinker in his first season at the Provec Racing outfit, which was the factory Kawasaki team in 2024 before switching to Bimota in 2025.

Pallares had been Jonathan Rea’s crew chief at Yamaha in 2025, replacing Andrew Pitt at the end of 2024, and had worked with Rea as his chief mechanic when he had been at Kawasaki until between 2015 and 2023.

Rea’s retirement saw Pallares’ departure from Yamaha and arrival at Bimota and Bassani’s side of the garage. He started working with Bassani at the end of last year during the post-season tests in Jerez, but rain during both European preseason tests this year limited running, meaning Bassani was behind on running and Pallares is still trying to understand exactly what his new rider wants from the KB998, even six months into the relationship.

“We have had a couple of really positive days of testing at Misano,” said Bassani.

“With Axel [Bassani], we focused, from one side, on continuing to understand each other.

“Day-by-day, we are still learning what he requests to go fast and to understand him. This is a process, and we are making forward steps in this process.”

Bassani’s test plan also included the evaluation of some new items and electronics settings, as well as adapting the KB998 for Misano, where WorldSBK will visit for the Emilia-Romagna Round on 12–14 June.

“We also followed our test plan with some items regarding electronics and bike parts,” said Pallares.

“In these two days, we focused on understanding much more the bike and trying to prepare for the weekend at Misano. It will be a home race for Bimota. 

“We were fast from day one at this test, understood some new directions, and double-checked some ideas that we had in mind over the last few races. The work has been positive.”

Bassani himself was upbeat about the test, saying: “This two-day test was quite positive. We had some ups and downs, because we tried different things. In the end, our pace was quite good until the end. 

“We had some difficulties to grow up a little bit in the two days, because we are quite on the limit, but I think we worked really well. 

“We tried to understand which direction to take for the future, especially, and we also worked for the Misano race weekend. In the end, our conclusions are positive. We will keep going forward, happy, positive and continuing to work.”