Bimota adaptation the key for Alex Lowes at Jerez WorldSBK test

Bimota is two tests into its WorldSBK return, and Alex Lowes is now two tests into his adaptation to the KB998 he will race in 2025.

This, adapting to the new bike, is still at the forefront of Lowes’ mind after the conclusion of this week’s two-day test in Jerez, where both Lowes and his Bimota teammate Axel Bassani only rode on the second day.

“It was a good day of testing, and a busy day,” Lowes told WorldSBK.com.

“I spent a lot of years on the Kawasaki so there were two main targets for me: to be on the bike a bit more and understand how to ride the bike in the best way. This is something I need to think about during the winter break.

“It was important to see if I have to change my style a bit. We did a long run and tried to work on used tyres to get a feeling with the bike.

“I started to work a bit on my confidence with the front. I had a little crash in T6, pushing the front to understand a bit more.

“We used one SCQ tyre only and we made a good step with that. Even if that was not our main target, it was nice to be fast.

“With all the information we have, I am sure we can improve quite a lot. We have an understanding of the bike, but I know also where I need to work to just refine my style to get the most out of it.”

Lowes’ crew chief, Pere Riba, said that the juvenility of the project means that much of the work being done at the moment is about getting the riders more comfortable on the KB998 and allowing them to understand the new bike, rather than finding more pure performance from the bike itself.

“This is the second test we have done with Alex [Lowes], after we were here in Jerez one month ago,” Riba began, speaking to WorldSBK.com.

“The bike is similar, but we have some different items to let the rider be more comfortable on the bike, with the riding position and these kinds of things. You can imagine how early in the project we are.

“This bike has a different character from the Kawasaki we raced in the past, in terms of riding. So, the approach from the rider has to be a little bit different.

“We are working to understand how to create a base bike for Alex to be comfortable, to understand it and get the feeling.

“We have been testing quite linear changes in terms of set-up, not big up and down changes, as I want to give time for the rider to really understand the new bike.

“We made some changes in terms of balance to understand the direction we want to go in.

“We are still at the beginning, but even like this the lap times are quite promising. Alex used only one Q tyre to set a good lap time. It was a very positive test.”