The last competitive action for the WorldSBK riders took place at Assen in the Netherlands between 19-21 April, meaning both Lowes and Bassani are raring to get back on their official Ninja ZX-10RR machines.

After the first three rounds of the series Lowes has already secured two race wins and sits fourth overall in the championship table. For Alex and his crew the Misano test will give them the opportunity to make set-up changes to try and maximise their potential for the rest of the year, as well as doing some early fine tuning in time for the fourth round of the championship at Misano in two-week’s time.

In his first season as a KRT official rider, after three previous WorldSBK campaigns on a different machine with an Independent team, Bassani approaches his first home circuit of 2024 ready to make his next upward swing in trajectory.

One of the most often-visited and most popular WorldSBK venues of all, Misano is frequently one of the hottest race weekends on the calendar. KRT is hoping for hot weather conditions at the test to continue the advances made in this particular area of machine set-up over full race distances.

Once the imminent tests have been completed the fourth round of the year will take place at the same Misano venue between 14-16 June. After Axel’s home round it will be Alex’s turn, with the fifth round of the season coming into view at Donington Park in the UK, between 12-14 July. 

Alex Lowes, stated: “I am really looking forward to the Misano test because I’ve been off the bike for a long time. We have had a solid start to the year but we have also highlighted a few areas we want to improve in. We will focus on some work with the electronics and this is probably our main target. We have some good ideas from both the bike side and how I ride the bike. We will use this test to really work on those things and get back into the Superbike rhythm. We will work hard until we are in the best position we can be for the Misano race in a few weeks’ time.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “Soon we arrive in Italy and restart the track action. A break of almost two months between races is very long but we will restart at this test and I am happy that we will restart at my home track of Misano. We have a lot of jobs to do and we need to make a step forward with my feeling on the front. I think we know what we have to do but we need to try to understand if it works. We will see after Misano. I want to get on the bike again to find my feeling again. Two weeks after the test we will have the race at Misano so we need to do a good job. It is important to enjoy working with the team and the bike. Afterwards we can see what happens.”

Guim Roda, KRT Team Manager, stated: “We start again now in the ‘real’ championship, when the track temperatures rise and grip starts to be complex to manage. All the jobs we have been doing until now we will need to re-check to see if they help us to be a step ahead compared to last season. Axel will really need to manage this test and keep extracting all the best from the ZX-10RR. I’m sure he is making incredible progression and he will be able to be on the top, and be there more often. Alex has been training hard and is ready for the challenge of the next part of the championship in the summer months. We are quite focused on extracting 110% from our machine with no complaints, no excuses, so we will just focus to give our best efforts. That's the key. Let's see how we manage, starting from this Misano test.”

2024 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics

Alex Lowes:
2024: Races: 9, Wins 2, Podiums 3, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 4 (3 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 37 (17 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 1 (0 for Kawasaki)

Axel Bassani:
2024: Races: 9, Wins 0, Podiums 0, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 0 (0 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 6 (0 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 0 (0 for Kawasaki)

8 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Tom Sykes 2013, Jonathan Rea 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
6 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016, Ninja ZX-10RR 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020)
5 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019)

Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 180 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 545 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 108 – second overall

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