Superpole Qualifying on Saturday morning did not deliver the starting grid positions that Axel or Alex had hoped for. Bassani’s fast lap, which he put in late the session due to a slight technical issue, placed him 12th. Lowes finished up 16th on the Race One grid.

Race One got underway in warm ambient conditions of almost 30°C, with high track temperatures of almost 50°C reducing the amount of available grip from the track surface.
 
Both Axel and Alex were involved in a ten rider midfield fight from the start at the short but intense 3.768km long Cremona Circuit in Northern Italy.

At the end of a hot and very closely contested 23-laps Axel finished ninth and Alex 11th. They consistently rode inside a group of nine riders (ranged out from fourth to 12th), who were all covered by around 3.5 seconds at the flag.

With the Saturday action now complete the traditional Sunday morning ‘sprint’ race, over ten laps, will be followed by the last WorldSBK race of the weekend, again over 23 laps.

Axel Bassani stated: “It was a quite a long Race One. It was difficult as there were so many riders all together. For us it was difficult to overtake so we had to adapt to the pace that the guys in front were doing. I never overtook anyone until the finish of the race. It was not fun today and quite long for me. It was difficult because we started from 12th place on the grid. I only had one lap in which to set a fast Superpole time. But, we finished the race and we were inside the top nine places, which is always good. We took some points and we will see what more we can do tomorrow.”

Alex Lowes stated: “Not the easiest day for us. We are learning this bike and we did a lot of laps on Friday. We tried to make a good change for today, but I was unsure about the feeling in Superpole. I was not sure about a tyre with a lot more grip, so I qualified in 16th. With how close WorldSBK is now, you cannot afford to put yourself in that position. I just didn’t have the feeling I needed to really extract everything from the Qualifying tyre. We knew the race was going to be long so we tried something different again, and it was OK. I was at the back of the big group and couldn’t pass. I felt really strong from lap 16-17 but in the last few laps I had some sliding from the front. But, we got some good information again and we need to use this to make another step forward for the two races on Sunday. I enjoyed the first race but I would have liked to have passed a few more guys. Thanks to the team; it was a big effort today in the hot and sticky conditions.”