Strong BbKRT Test Performance As New Season Draws Near

The bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team played its full part in the final pre-season WorldSBK test sessions at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Australia, which were held between 16-17 February. Riding the 2026 bimota KB998 Rimini, Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani will soon take part in the first round of the season, again at Phillip Island, between 20-22 February.

The two days of testing at Phillip Island were held in dry and generally stable conditions, which was a welcome development after so many European winter tests were affected by poor weather.

Both Bassani and Lowes were in the upper echelons of the rankings from the first day to the final day at ‘PI.’ The combined times from all four individual track sessions set by the WorldSBK entrants placed Bassani in overall 5th place and Lowes in sixth.

After these important dry weather test days, the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship will get underway in earnest on Friday 20 February, with two free practice sessions.

There will be a final FP3 and then Superpole qualifying on Saturday 21 February, before the first 22-lap WorldSBK race of the new year takes place at 16.00 local time in Australia.

On Sunday 22 February, the ten-lap Superpole Race and then a second 22-lap Race Two will conclude the first of 12 championship rounds that will form the forthcoming WorldSBK season.

2026 will be the second year of WorldSBK participation for BbKRT and the KB998 Rimini machine, which has already recorded four podium places.

Alex Lowes, stated: “We have done this pre-season Phillip Island test a lot of times in past years and it is easy to get crazy and over-excited - especially this year, with everything that happened in the winter and not getting that many laps in. We finished the Australian test with a bit more of an understanding of the bike. It is always strange here because you are testing in Europe on different tyres, essentially, because we have to bring harder tyres for the layout of this track. So the grip and how the bike works is a bit different here. During the test, we worked on the pace of the bike, a bit of electronics, and did some longer runs. The consistency was good but we are missing some things in a few areas. We were working really well in one place and sacrificing in another. Pere has got some data to look at for the next couple of days. He will piece it altogether and I think we are in an OK position going into the weekend. I think this is one of the better Phillip Island tests we have had, really.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “In the sessions, we are always around the top three, top four, and new were consistent. We tried some different things. We also did a 21-lap long run today, and the results were not bad. I am not completely happy because in the first seven or eight laps, I struggled a little bit to have a good pace, so we have to understand that. In general, the feeling is quite good. Every time I go out on the track, I have a good rhythm, and inside the box, I am feeling good. Now we will check some data because we have only had our first two days, after last year, and also with my new crew chief. There is a lot of work to do, but we are going well. We know where we can be, and I think we can improve a little bit for the first race weekend of the year. We also have to see how the weather is, because it always changes quite fast here. I think, in general, we are quite ready for the weekend. For sure, the race weekend is something different, so I think we have to start calmly and step-by-step, try to arrive where we want to be.”

Pere Riba, Crew Chief for Alex Lowes, stated: “After the winter tests in Europe, when it was raining, we could not confirm some items. That was our focus over the two days here at Phillip Island. We tried to confirm if we could go ahead with some quite big things. We did that, and it was quite clear that the results were what we expected. We also worked a bit with the new rear tyre that we will have for the race weekend. Alex did a good job, and we will have some data now. We are ready to start the first race of 2026.”

Uri Pallares, Crew Chief for Axel Bassani, stated: “We started from the beginning with a really good feeling about the bike from Axel. To be fair, he is riding the bike really well. From the first session, things came naturally and very smoothly. We tried a couple of things in terms of balance, some hardware on the bikes, and we did quite a good test programme. As Axel and I have said many times, this is like a November test for us, as we have not had the chance in the previous winter tests to start working and spend time on the track. So, this is a good way to start.”