Axel Bassani took a strong fourth place finish in the opening round of the 2026 World Superbike season, but he was displeased with the timing of a penalty he received.

Bassani passed Sam Lowes for fourth on lap two at turn four. He made heavy contact as he did so, and turned around to apologise to Lowes as they exited the corner.

The Bimota rider then opened up a gap of around one second over Lowes before being given a ‘drop one position penalty’. It meant he had to give up the time he had gained over Lowes since passing him as well as the position.

Bassani had little issue with the penalty himself, but was frustrated with the timing of it.

“I think it’s been a really good race,” he said, speaking to WorldSBK.com.

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“It’s been not really good for the penalty, but it’s part of the game. Maybe one thing [is that] the penalty was right, but to arrive after three or four laps is not really good because already I had one second from the rider behind me so I had to lose a lot of time to give again the position. 

“But it’s okay, it’s part of the race. 

“I felt good, the pace was really good, especially after half race we were quite fast. So we arrived near to the podium – we have to be happy.”

In the end, Bassani crossed the line 0.036 seconds behind third-placed Lorenzo Baldassarri. It would’ve been a first World Superbike podium as a Bimota rider for Bassani, but he was not emotional about missing out.

“I think we know why we didn’t arrive on the podium today – we know we have the speed, we have only to put it all together,” he explained.

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“We can improve some parts, sure, but the speed is there, it’s in our hands, and we will try again tomorrow.”

Bassani added that he felt it would’ve been too risky to try to force a pass on Baldassarri.

“I thought sometimes to try to overtake,” he said.

“I think [there was more to lose than gain]. So, I tried something in the last corner to arrive with more speed, but I knew it was impossible to overtake on the straight. But it’s part of the game.”