Alex Lowes “not really using” Bimota WorldSBK bike: “I need to change my riding style”

Bimota made a strong WorldSBK test debut in Jerez, but there are still steps to be made in understanding the new bike for Alex Lowes.

Lowes, who has ridden the Kawasaki ZX-10RR for the Akashi marque’s factory team since 2020, finished second to his teammate, Axel Bassani, on the second and final day of this week’s Jerez test, but was keen to emphasise how early on the project is.

“It was good to start this new challenge,” Lowes told WorldSBK.com following the conclusion of the two-day Jerez test.

“Obviously, we’re starting to explore the bike, we need to understand how the changes make the bike feel, what I need from the bike, maybe riding style changes to get the most from the bike.

“There’s lots of things to do, lots of work to do, but it was nice to get started, I enjoyed riding the bike, the feeling was honestly nice from the first laps this morning.

“So, it’s been a really good, fun first day on the bike.”

Much of the work to be done, Lowes said, was about understanding the bike and how it reacts to certain setup changes.

“Obviously, it’s the start point we have here,” he said. “We know the track well from the race weekend, so you’re already up to speed, so it was really important to, let’s say, test the bike now.

“This winter, it’s not just setup changes, it’s also understanding the bike; me understanding what the bike needs, the changes on the bike, how the bike reacts to changes.

“This is gathering information that puts us in a good position for next year.

“We started to try some things already in the afternoon today, and it’s so interesting to me because it’s different to the past, and it’s great to be able to use my experience and try to understand the bike.”

The major differences between the Kawasaki ZX-10RR and the Bimota KB998 are in the aerodynamics and the chassis. Lowes was pleased with the latter, and complimented the new bike’s handling.

“It feels good,” Lowes said. “The way the bike turns and handles is nice, it’s smooth, it turns well.

“Then, on top of that, the rider feeling, and the effort you put in goes with getting comfortable on the bike and the setting changes on the bike.”

As a result, there are differences between the handling characteristics of the bikes, even if they share an engine.

“It’s surprising,” Lowes said. “I think the bike needs to be ridden in a different way.

“I rode the Kawasaki for five years, I felt like I was able to take everything from the bike. This bike I think you need to ride a little bit smoother, and I need to change my riding style to get everything out of the bike and understand it a bit more.

“Right now I feel like I’m not really using the bike, so I think I’ll know a bit more about that in the next test coming up. It’s difficult, when I know the old bike so well, to really understand.”

Lowes was cautious to read too much into the performance at Jerez, though, and was focused on continuing to learn about the KB998 at the next test in Aragon next week.

“We need to keep [making changes] next week, because the more I understand about the bike, the more I understand how to ride the bike, will put me in a better position,” he said.

“The grip’s quite good today, the temperatures are quite low, the grip’s high, sometimes this can help a lot of the problems.

“So, I need to be ready for when the grip drops and understand how to keep riding the bike over the race distance, because that’s what’s going to get us the results next year.”