WorldSBK Argentina: Baz handed €1000 fine for Bassani bird

Bonovo BMW’s Loris Baz was handed a €1000 fine for giving Axel Bassani the bird after the Italian nerfed him off in yesterday’s second WorldSBK race at San Juan.

Baz had his middle finger raised before he and his satellite M1000RR had finished sliding and, because it was on live TV, the stewards decided to penalise the Frenchman.

“I am disappointed, of course. All BMW riders struggled here, and I think overall San Juan was not the easiest track for us though, I think I rode pretty well all weekend. I had a good Superpole yesterday, struggling in the race, but we improved the bike this morning,” said Baz, who has been very vocal about some recent dubious race control decisions.

“We were able to finish in the top-9 in the Superpole race. I had a really, really good start to the second race, I was in the top-5 and then I tried to ride calm and save the tyres. Bassani bowled me out and that was the end of it. I went on, finished in 17th, but unfortunately, we did not get any points.

“Coming to Argentina with such a long journey and only taking one point from Superpole race is not much of a reward. But we worked great as a team and never gave up throughout the weekend.”

Bassani, meanwhile, ignored a single long lap penalty for causing a collision and then a double long-lap penalty for ignoring the single one. He then rolled down pitlane for a ride-through which meant he finished in 20th three positions behind the nerfee.