BbKRT Riders In The Early Lead...

bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team riders Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes finished their first day of on-track action at Misano in fifth and seventh places respectively, after two hot Free Practice sessions at Axel’s local circuit.

The 4.226 km long racetrack near the Adriatic coast of Italy featured air temperatures of 25°C and track temperatures of almost 50°C for the opening day of WorldSBK action, during what is the seventh round of the championship.

Almost every rider improved their FP1 times in the afternoon’s FP2 session, including Axel and Alex. The bimota KB998 Rimini riders were the only two finally ranked inside a seven-strong group of front-running Ducati riders.

High ambient temperatures are expected again for the first race day at Misano, on Saturday 13th June.

A short FP3 session is next up for Alex and Axel, before Superpole Qualifying and then the first of two 21-lap races. On Sunday, a short morning warm-up session, a ten-lap Superpole Race, and ultimately a full-distance Race Two will complete the weekend.

Alex Lowes, stated: “I think we will have even hotter conditions later this weekend, but the opening day was good. We did a longer run this afternoon and tried something on the bike with its position. I felt quite good. I missed some consistency, but like I said, we are trying some things. Overall, I think we had a pretty good Friday. I am sure we can improve - it was probably a better Friday than we had at the previous round in Aragon, and those races were quite strong. We will analyse all the data we gathered today and try to make a step forward on Saturday. It looks like there are four or five guys with really strong pace, but we will try to do our best and try to improve where I am not so good. I hope to be a little bit closer to the front tomorrow, but overall it was a positive opening day.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “I am happy with how we did on the first day at Misano. We are continuing the work we did in the last few races. Alex and I are always in the middle of the Ducatis, so that is what we have to do now. This morning’s session was not really easy because the feeling with the bike was quite strange. It was nervous and moving a lot. For the afternoon, we made some changes, and the bike started to work better, and I think we can make one more step for Saturday. I think we can look back on today in a positive way.”