WorldSBK, Baldassarri flies at Assen and silences the critics: 'Solved the Portimão problem'

Baldassarri is the fastest after Bulega at Assen: back in the Superbike World Championship, he’s showing great speed with the Ducati.

It’s only Friday and the races are what count, but Lorenzo Baldassarri has started on the right foot at the TT Circuit. He set the second-best time at the end of Superbike free practice, just 276 thousandths behind leader Nicolò Bulega. The Go Eleven rider is riding the Panigale V4 R at Assen for the first time, immediately felt comfortable, and hopes to be able to fight for the podium for the rest of the Assen weekend.

The rider from the Marche region is particularly happy with his SBK practice day, also because regarding the right forearm problem he suffered in Portimao (HERE our interview with the rider), he didn’t know what would happen at the TT Circuit: "We can be happy with how it went today. After Portimao, it was positive to confirm our speed and above all it was crucial to solve the problem I had in Portugal. If I’d had the same issue here, I would’ve struggled a lot. Today it was important to feel better physically. I really like this track, I have good memories from Moto2. I was fast and we need to keep working like this."

Baldassarri emphasizes that the Go Eleven team worked well at Assen and that the pace is good, but at the same time it’s necessary not to rest on their laurels and continue working with the goal of making further progress: "It was important, like this morning, to build speed step by step. We had a great pace in FP1 as well, and in the afternoon we were able to confirm we had good pace with the harder race tire. We’ll see tomorrow; we need to confirm the speed and keep improving because, for sure, everyone will be faster."

Climbing the podium in this third round of the 2026 Superbike World Championship seems achievable for the 1996-born rider, who had already managed it at Phillip Island: "I think we can be in the top five. Let’s see if we can grab a podium, that would be fantastic. In Australia it was a bit unexpected for me; here it’s something more realistic. We’ll see what happens".

The one in Australia was the first podium of his short SBK career; he doesn’t want it to be the only one. Baldassarri intends to make the most of the excellent potential he has with the Ducati Panigale V4 R at Assen. His performances are confirming that the Go Eleven team did well to bet on him after the two-year stint with Andrea Iannone. It’s no secret there were doubts from many; some even went so far as to say he got the seat only for financial reasons and didn’t deserve it. The track is showing that the Balda–Go Eleven pairing is working very well, and the critics are having to rethink.