WorldSBK: Impressive first outing for Bimota in Jerez test

Words and images courtesy WorldSBK

A new era for Provec Racing started at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto with the public rollout of the KB998 that will race under the Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team banner in 2025. It was exclusively tested by Florian Marino on Day 1 as regular riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani watched on at the Spanish venue, with Team Manager Guim Roda explaining the first day of testing, why Marino was on the bike and the plan for Day 2.

Marino completed 72 laps on the Kawasaki-powered Bimota machine at Jerez as he posted a best time of 1’41.360s to finish in ninth place, with the Frenchman using three different machines across Tuesday’s running. It marked the start of a new era for the Provec Racing squad which had competed with the Kawasaki ZX-10RR for a long time under the Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK banner and enjoyed so much success.

Early stages of development

Discussing the first rollout of the KB998, Guim Roda said: “It’s been a starting point with a lot of emotions. Straight away after the race weekend, we prepared everything on Monday and then jumped on track with the new bike. Of course, we’re still in a very early stage with the development but it’s a good point to check the base bike and, from then on, start to improve.”

With Marino the only rider to test the bike at Jerez, it was down to the 31-year-old to provide feedback on the bike’s performance and his feeling with it at Jerez.

Roda spoke about Marino’s comments after the day concluded, saying: “We did part of the development with Florian so now it was just confirming all the items we asked Bimota to implement in the bike and in the mass production model they’ll produce. We checked here all these improvements and then starting from that base, we’ll keep working. There’s a lot of work to do. Now it’s time to give Florian the chance to check everything is working correctly and the riders go on it.”

Test day restrictions

Regular race riders Lowes and Bassani are waiting for their turn on the machine they’ll race with next year. With test day restrictions in place, the team are trying to strategically use the days for the #22 and the #47 and Roda explained the plan for Day 2 as they look to make early gains on the KB998 and be as competitive as possible when the season begins in February 2025 in Australia.

Explaining the test plan for Wednesday, Roda said: “We’re working in this early stage to improve the bike, check the items to work on. We’re limited by the test days restrictions so we can’t use our riders to do this development plan, so we have to work with Florian to do as many laps as possible. When everything is a bit more fixed, just use the riders at the correct time and correct moment to not use more test days than needed. The target will be, if possible, when everything goes well, let them make some testing laps but just to understand the feeling.”

Lowes and Bassani in action

The Italian brand made their public WorldSBK return at Jerez with Bassani leading the timesheets ahead of teammate Lowes

It was a good first day on the bike for Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team duo Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes, with the pair finishing first and second. Bassani was the quicker of the two after ‘El Bocia’ posted a 1’38.478s to finish two tenths clear of his teammate, and both the #47 and #22 gave their first impressions of the new machine after their first day on the bike concluded on Day 2 at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto.

Bassani put in a flurry of late and fast laps in the final 30 minutes of the test as he set a 1’38.478s to claim P1, although his time wasn’t as quick as the pace from Day 1; he was around three tenths slower than Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) managed on Tuesday when the #11 used the SCQ tyre. Nevertheless, the Italian moved himself into top spot for Wednesday’s running while also completing 76 laps.

Discussing his first time on the bike, and reviewing his test, Bassani said: “It’s been a really good first day with the new Bimota. It wasn’t easy in the first part because it’s a completely new bike and we had to discover everything. I think we did a really good job. The team worked well, and the bike is nice, I’m feeling good. We have a lot of work to do but, at the moment, we’re doing a really good job. My time was half-a-second better than my Superpole time last weekend. This means my feeling with the bike is good and I can push.”

Lowes makes good start

Lowes, like Bassani, put in a late lap to move into second place. He posted a 1’38.679s to claim P2 and finish 0.201s down on his teammate, although he was half-a-second up on Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) in third. The Brit completed a similar number of laps to his teammate, adding 67 laps to the team’s tally; they totalled 143 on Day 2, while test and development rider Florian Marino, who tested exclusively on Tuesday, completed 72 laps.

Giving his review of his first day on the bike, four-time race winner Lowes said: “It was good to start this new challenge. We’re starting to explore the bike. We need to understand how the changes make the bike feel, what I need from the bike, maybe changing the riding style a little bit. Lots of things and work to do, but it was nice to get started; I enjoyed riding the bike. The feeling was nice from the first laps this morning. It’s been a really good and fun first day on the bike.”

Giving a brief overview on how he’s adapting to the bike after spending five years on the ZX-10RR: “It’s surprising. I think the bike needs to be ridden in a different way because I rode the Kawasaki for five years, and I felt like I was able to take everything from the bike. This bike, I think you need to ride a little bit smoother. I’ll need to change my riding style to get everything out of the bike and understand it a bit more. Right now, I feel like I’m not really using the bike. I’ll learn more about that in the next test coming up. It’s difficult when I know the old bike so well to really understand. The way the bike turns and handles is nice, it’s smooth and turns well. On top of that, the rider feeling and the effort you put in goes with getting comfortable on the bike and setting changes on the bike.”

Bassani also explained his adaptation, albeit from only a single year on Kawasaki machinery. He said: “It’s quite different because we have the wings, and the chassis is completely different. It’s like riding a different bike with the same engine. It’s strange because the sound is the same, but the feeling isn’t. They’re two different things. The Kawasaki was a good bike, but the Bimota is a bike of a new era so it’s good for us.”

Roda’s tech overview

Team Manager Guim Roda gave a technical oversight of the bike, discussing the split steel-aluminium chassis and the engine. He said: “We need to discover the chassis. Basically, it’s an identity of Bimota. There’s pros and cons, as with everything in life, and it’s our job to use this concept to maximise it in racing activities, and that’s what we’re paid for; to really try to take the tools they provide to the best possible results and, for sure, we have the possibility and capacity to improve the chassis. That’s what we’re going to focus on. We worked a little bit on the engine according to what the rules allow us, and we made a step. Puccetti already compared them yesterday and today and we worked on that. It’s another job we need to do to understand how to maximise it. Everyone is always looking for acceleration and top speed, so let’s see if we can, we can’t make magic because the rules are the rules. At the level we are, small steps are important so the sum of many small details will give us a good step.”