BbKRT Completes Additional Por...

Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes took part in a one-day test at Portimao on Friday, 13 March, with both official bimota KB998 Rimini riders completing their work in a positive mood.

After poor weather had prevented BbKRT from finding dry track conditions on the second day of a planned test at Portimao earlier this week, the team joined some 2026 WorldSBK rivals for this extra outing at the 4.592km circuit.

BbKRT’s priority at this test was to use the available track time to work on set up and test items, rather than push for a fast individual lap time. Even after this approach Alex set the third best lap time of all and Axel was the seventh quickest rider.

All who took to the track on Friday were rewarded with dry and sunny conditions, allowing some important decisions to be made about machine set-up and general development. The test was complete at 15.00.

Lowes, who had been fastest of all on day one at the previous test, continued to work on both new set-up ideas and general preparation for the next round of the championship.

Bassani, who is sitting second in the championship standings after the first round in Australia last month, continued working with his new crew chief, Uri Pallares, mainly on items and ideas to take forward to the next few rounds of the championship.

After the completion of the tests at Portimao, the undulating venue in the hills behind the holiday resorts of the Algarve will soon host the second round of the WorldSBK season, which will be held between 27-29 March.

Alex Lowes, stated: “The test went well and I am happy to have got our work done in sunny conditions. We tried some quite big changes on the bike that we have been wanting to try recently. We rode for just over half a day and did nearly 80 laps in a short space of time, so it was hard work. We finished with a long run and we have plenty of information now on where we need to improve for race weekend. My confidence on the bike felt good, I enjoyed it, and I was happy to get plenty of laps in. A big thank you to the guys for staying out this week. We have been unlucky with the weather all winter, so there has been a lot of effort from everybody to stay out in Portugal and test again. I really appreciate it. I think it is going to put us in a good position when we return for the Portimao race weekend.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “We did some laps in really dry conditions at Portimao, with nice weather and sunshine all day. We tested a lot of items and we did not really work on set-up for the race. We tried some new things on the bike and we understood some things and also where we need to work. We missed some speed in terms of lap times, but I am happy about the work we did with the team. For the race weekend we will work again, and we will be back in Portimao soon.”

Pere Riba, Crew Chief for Alex Lowes, stated: “At the beginning of this week, we were here at Portimao and did a couple of hours of testing on Monday, but then the afternoon and next day it was raining. We came back today and followed the plan. After the opening round in Phillip Island, we understood there were some areas where Alex was not so happy. PI is a completely different track layout to most and the balance of the bike is different there, but Alex has felt quite good with the bike here. We took a lot of information, just to understand our base for the race weekend. We worked with the set-up and some different items and also did a long run. We collected a lot of information. Now, we are looking forward to the Portimao race weekend.”

Uri Pallares, Crew Chief for Axel Bassani, stated: “It has been a very productive day because we tested a lot of items and ideas we had in mind. We had to forget a little bit about race preparation for the Portimao weekend and think a little more about the future. We will face four race weekends, without a test in the middle, until Misano, so we did a lot of future work and trying to understand items and ideas. I am sure when we put them all together we will be quite ready for the Portimao race and the following ones.”