The first testing sessions of the new year took place on January 24 and 25 at the same venue as the final tests of 2023, the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto. After two days of dry and often unusually hot conditions, the KRT team completed several important development and tuning tasks for the race, as the start of the 2024 season quickly approaches for alex lowes became leader of the Kawasaki Racing Team, and Axel Bassani.
Each day at Jerez the track was cool in the morning but quickly warmed up in bright sunshine, providing largely consistent conditions to carry out the planned work programme. alex lowes had a difficult first day on track after suffering from gastro, but recovered sufficiently to add 82 laps on the final day to the previous 31, with a best time of 1'38.989 placing him 11th.
Axel Bassani, new to KRT this year to replace Jonathan Rhea, continues to learn the intricacies of his Ninja ZX-10RR as he eases into his role as a factory rider for the first time in his WorldSBK career. Axel Bassani and his team found improvements in overall ergonomics and settings during this test, and gained valuable dry track data. He placed 14th overall, with a best lap time of 1'39.419.
Florian Marino, the team's test driver, also completed a few laps each day to help with the combined workload at this important stage of pre-season preparations.
Next up for the KRT team will be another two-day test, this time at the Autodromo internacional do Algarve in Portugal, between January 29-30. Shortly after this test, the official machines and racing parts will be packed and flown to Australia, in preparation for the final official testing sessions and the first round of the new season.
alex lowes : “We had a good day at work today. We're trying to make motorcycling easier on used tires, and that was our main goal. We lost a bit of performance on the fresh tyres, but I think that's what we need to do with our bike because we've always been very fast in qualifying and the Superpole races, but we're lacking a bit of performance. efficiency when it comes to race distance. So we're trying to make motorcycling a little easier. Honestly, the feeling was good today, and because the conditions were consistent, everyone was fast. You always want to do better, but after being sick yesterday, 82 laps was a good day's work. I'm quite happy. »
Axel Bassani : “We tried a lot of things, a lot of different settings and tires. We did a lot of work and we started to understand what I needed to change and what I needed to change in my riding style. The last part of the day was good and we started to improve. I think we did a good job, we had a good test and we now have a lot of data that will help us improve at Portimao. »
Riba pears (Alex Lowes team leader): “The test was very positive. I'm happy with the result and happy with Alex. We have already covered around 1500 km this winter and no one has fallen, which has given us some very good information. We tested a lot of things and worked on many areas, including chassis and electronics. I am satisfied with the progress made in the field of electronics. The most important thing is that we focused 100% on the stability of the lap times, in order to achieve the same time on the first and last laps. This is our objective, because it was our weak point, and we have taken a good step forward. Alex works very well and I am happy. Now we are going to Portimao and we will continue working. »
Marcel Duinker (Axel Bassani’s team leader): “I think everyone was ready to get back to work after an eight-week break, which seemed way too long this time. We benefited from very good weather during these tests and after two tests in November, we gathered a lot of information. The objectives were very clear for his first test in January. We checked all the points and we improved Axel's riding position on the bike, as well as the geometry of the bike. We have improved in all areas. Alex Lowes is, of course, the reference on this bike. Our goal with each test is to get closer and closer and we achieved that goal in this test. We have a bit of data to analyze at home and I can't wait to be in Portimao. »
Results of the second day of testing in Jerez de la Frontera:
Results of the first day of testing in Jerez de la Frontera:
