Axel Bassani finds “good direction” at Kawasaki WorldSBK Jerez test

Axel Bassani has completed a two-day test with the Kawasaki WorldSBK team at Jerez ahead of the upcoming final two rounds of this year’s World Superbike Championship.

Bassani took part in the test alone, as Alex Lowes was absent following the injuries he picked up in the Superpole Race at last weekend’s Aragon Round.

Bassani’s solo work was intended to find improvements for the Jerez Round coming up later this month as well as next week’s Estoril Round.

“We have now finished two days of hard testing, which we started very soon after the previous round in Motorland Aragon,” Bassani said following his Jerez test outing.

“Physically, it has not been so easy because we had a race weekend so recently. But they worked a lot and worked well to try to improve the bike in these hot conditions.

“We improved in some areas and I am happy at what we did together in the team. I have to thank all the guys for the big effort they put in over these two days.

“I think we went in a good direction and now we can relax a bit before we head to the next round in Estoril.”

Bassani’s crew chief, Marcel Duinker, sadded: “It was an interesting test because, especially today, it was hot. Really hot. That made it very suitable to help us work towards race weekend, but at the same time it helped us understand the other areas we needed to improve in.

“That’s what we did and it was also interesting because Axel [Bassani] was faster in the 50°C track temperatures than he had been in winter testing at Jerez.

“Axel was riding with a lot of confidence on both race and Q tyres, and he was really on top of his job.

“We did what we needed to do, so we will be ready not just for the Jerez race weekend, but also the next round at Estoril.”