Before Race One, which was scheduled to run for 23-laps, the traditional Tissot Superpole Qualifying session took place, with all the riders competing against the clock to achieve the best possible grid position. Lowes was fourth fastest and Bassani 12th.
With another rider ahead of him penalised by the loss of three starting positions for the first race Alex finally ended up on the front row of the grid for Race One.
In the opening race Lowes was in competitive form from the start and was suddenly promoted into third place when one of his rivals crashed at T7. Lowes would fall at the same corner on lap 11. He took to the track again and then pitted, rejoining the race to finish a lap down on the leaders.
Starting from the fourth row of the grid Bassani fought his way forward into a large group of riders, all with ambitions of taking third place.
Axel’s pace remained at a high level throughout and he got to the front of a three-rider group before the red flag brought about a premature end due to a trackside technical problem. Bassani was finally 10.125 seconds from the first time WorldSBK race winner, Danilo Petrucci.
Sunday 22 September will provide a final FP3 session, then the ten lap Tissot Superpole Race and a 23-lap Race Two.
Alex Lowes, stated: “I am disappointed with today and sorry to my guys. I felt like I wanted to get back in the mix and try to win, and was pushing too hard. I should have accepted the podium because after Iannone crashed I had a gap behind me. I am sorry to KRT for this. Tomorrow we will re-adjust our expectations and focus on a solid Sunday.”
Axel Bassani, stated: “Qualifying is difficult at the moment and we have to work on that. But we are also good at recovering positions. So maybe if we started on the front we could make a good race. Our Race One was still quite good but I suffered a lot from the beginning with rear grip. I started to control it and tried to stay with the guys in front of me. It was a difficult race but we got a fifth place finish and I am happy about this.”
Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) qualified well in Superpole, taking tenth place on the grid. He was to fall on lap one of Race One and no-score.
2024 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics
Alex Lowes:
2024: Races: 25, Wins 2, Podiums 10, Superpoles 1
Career Race Wins: 4 (3 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 44 (24 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 2 (1 for Kawasaki)
Axel Bassani:
2024: Races: 25, Wins 0, Podiums 0, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 0 (0 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 6 (0 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 0 (0 for Kawasaki)
8 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Tom Sykes 2013, Jonathan Rea 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
6 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016, Ninja ZX-10RR 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020)
5 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019)
Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 180 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 552 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 109 – second overall
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