Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team (BbKRT) has now completed its second off-season test at the Circuito de Jerez Angel Nieto, taking the lead of the Test WorldSBK Superbike during the last period of on-track action before the start of the traditional winter break.
The BbKRT team was present in Jerez for the two days of testing, but the usual riders alex lowes et Axel Bassani rode the new KB998 twin-bike on just the second day. The team's test rider, Florian Marino, completed laps on the first day, in order to prepare the BbKRT drivers to take on the 4,423 km circuit in Andalusia.
Bassani and Lowes found warm, sunny conditions on track Wednesday, and both completed an impressive number of laps and worked through their test plans in a methodical manner. alex lowes recorded 83 laps on the last day and Axel Bassani 86.
With a best time of 1'38.355, Lowes was the fastest rider over the two days of racing, with Bassani just behind in 1'38.358, a few thousandths of a second behind.
A wide variety of machines shared the track with the BbKRT team, including WorldSBK and EWC Superbike machines, WorldSSP bikes, BSB Superbike and Supersport machines and even a few MotoGP/Moto2 prototypes.
The winter break now begins for the team and drivers, but work to improve the performance of the already impressive KB998 will continue behind the scenes in order to be ready for the next test, once again at Jerez, which is scheduled to take place between 22 and 23 January 2025.
alex lowes said: “It was a good day of testing and a busy day. I spent many years on the Kawasaki so I had two main goals. To spend a little more time on the bike and to understand how to ride the bike in the best possible way. That’s something I have to think about during the winter break. It was important to see if I needed to change my style a little bit. We did a long run and tried to work with used tires to get a good feeling with the bike. I started to work on my confidence with the front. I had a small crash in T6, pushing the front to understand a little more. We only used one qualifying tire and we made a good step forward. Even if it wasn’t our main goal, it was good to be fast. With all the information we have, I’m sure we can still improve.” We have a good understanding of the bike, but I also know where I need to work to refine my style and get the most out of it.”
Riba pearsAlex Lowes' team boss, said: "This is the second test we've done with Alex, after the one in Jerez a month ago. The bike is similar, but we've got a few different things to help the rider get more comfortable on the bike, with the riding position and that sort of thing. You can imagine how early we are in the project. This bike has a different character to the Kawasaki we've ridden in the past, in terms of riding. So the approach from the rider has to be a little bit different. We're trying to figure out how to create a base bike that Alex is comfortable with, understands and gets into. We've been testing pretty linear changes in terms of set-up, not big changes up and down, because I want to give the rider time to really understand the new bike. We've made a few changes in terms of balance to understand where we want to go. It's early days, but even so, the lap times are quite promising. Alex only used one Q tyre to set a good time. It was a very positive test."
Axel Bassani, said: “We worked a lot on the race pace and I’m pretty happy. It was really good and I’m also really happy to have done a fast lap. I’m not the best of all, but we ran at the same pace as Alex, who is one of the best riders in the world over one lap. We did more or less the same time, it’s really good. I think we understood which direction we should take during the winter break. Now I think everyone needs to relax a little bit, enjoy home and family. We will definitely think about the bike, but it’s also important to stop and relax, and we’ll see everyone again next year. Thanks to everyone.”
Marcel Duinker, Axel Bassani’s team manager, said: “First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the huge effort they have all put into this project. Everyone has done an incredible job from the beginning until today. I think everyone can be happy and satisfied now that we are entering the holiday period. Axel feels very comfortable on the bike and is riding with a lot of confidence. He put in a good performance and was one of the fastest on both the race tyres and the Q tyres. His pace on the race tyres was really impressive. We also did a long run and tested a few small elements. This was only our second day of testing with this machine. We made some small changes to the bike where we knew we needed to improve, and we got some positive results.”
- Alex Lowes (Bimota) 1'38.355
- Axel Bassani (Bimota) 1'38.358
- Jonathan Rea (Yamaha) 1'38.452
- Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki) 1'38.839
- Sam Lowes (Ducati Marc VDS) 1'38.890
- Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha) 1'39.582
Test Superbike Jerez bimota
Test Superbike Jerez bimota
Test Superbike Jerez bimota