BbKRT Riders Start Brightly Un...

Round eight of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship began in almost heatwave conditions in the United Kingdom, with BbKRT riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani making initial preparations for the races on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 July.

The ambient temperatures in the mid-morning FP1 session at Donington Park, located in the English East Midlands, were already 27°C. The air temperature broke through the 30°C mark and the track surface got up to 43°C in the afternoon session.

At Alex Lowes’ home round the local rider set the fourth best lap in the combined laptimes across FP1 and FP2. Bassani tried some new machine settings in FP1 but reverted to something more familiar in the afternoon, ending up 13th fastest overall.

Lowes was a slender 0.270 seconds from the fastest practice time, with Bassani less than a second from the lead.

Now the bimota KB998 Rimini riding duo are ready to make final set-up tweaks during the short FP3 session on Saturday. After the traditional Superpole Qualifying session later that same day, a 23-lap Race One will start the race action. Sunday 12 July will feature morning warm-up, a ten-lap Superpole Race, and finally a 23-lap Race Two.

Alex Lowes, stated: “It has been a hot first day at Donington Park. It looks like it is going to cool down a little bit over the weekend, so it will be a bit nicer for the people standing on the banking watching the races. It was a positive opening day for us, and I felt pretty good straight away this morning. We tried something this afternoon, and there were some positive points, but maybe in the middle of the track and the last sector, it wasn’t as good. But this is just the normal kind of set-up work we do on Fridays. I am happy that we were fourth overall, and maybe we can improve a bit for Saturday. I enjoyed it today, and I am looking forward to the races.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “This morning we tried something different on the bike, but it was not really working. In the afternoon, we went back to our normal setup, and we did a lot of work with a used tyre to the end of the session. The feeling was much better, as was the pace and the laptime. I feel like we are really consistent in all the laps. Now we will focus for tomorrow and try to have a good fast lap in Superpole Qualifying.”