There had been a long break in the race calendar before the Misano test which made these two days of track action particularly valuable - even as a simple opportunity for all riders and staff to mesh together again in their working environment.
Despite occasional threats of early summer rains the weather stayed fine throughout day one at Misano, allowing both sides of the KRT garage to get through a lot of work and find improvements in their set-up for the forthcoming Misano race weekend.
The forecasted wet weather conditions stayed at bay until lateThere had been a long break in the race calendar before the Misano test which made these two days of track action particularly valuable - even as a simple opportunity for all riders and staff to mesh together again in their working environment.
Despite occasional threats of early summer rains the weather stayed fine throughout day one at Misano, allowing both sides of the KRT garage to get through a lot of work and find improvements in their set-up for the forthcoming Misano race weekend.
The forecasted wet weather conditions stayed at bay until late morning on the second day, when occasional light rains brought about a mandatory early break for lunch at 12.00, not 13.00 as planned. Heavy rains in the early afternoon, and then some short periods of very light rain for some time after that, compromised the plans of many riders and teams.
Lowes mainly concentrated on electronics and chassis options at this test. His best lap time of 1’33.458 was set on day two, and placed him eighth overall, despite not getting a clear chance to make a single fast lap at full pace on a Q tyre.
Bassani’s best lap time of 1’33.929 saw him 15th on the combined timesheets over the two days of testing, with his main advances coming in terms of front end confidence on both race tyres and Q tyres.
After the testing work is now complete the next track outing will be at round four of the championship, which will take place at Misano between 14-16 June.
Alex Lowes, stated: “The second day was good even through in the morning it started to rain and we got a bit unlucky. We tried quite a big change on the bike, on the chassis, but then it rained. And then this afternoon it started to spit with rain every time we tried to go out. When the track was dry enough, with about an hour and half to go until the end, we tried the different chassis set-up. We were happy with that. We did two runs on that set-up and then returned to the base bike, with some back-to-back testing on that and more work on the electronics. It was quite good, honestly. The first time I tried the Q tyre was today, with this new chassis set-up, and I was able to do a 1’33.4 lap time, so I was quite happy with that. We are improving all the time.”
Axel Bassani, stated: “There was some difficult weather today so it was not easy to try to find a good time to go out on track. But, for sure we found something to make things feel better on the bike, especially with the front. We changed a lot of things and the feeling on the front, with a Q tyre on the rear, was nicer than before. I am happy about that. Step-by-step we are trying to arrive closer to the front and for sure with a race tyre option I was nearer to my team-mate Alex. I am happy with the work we did with the team and now we have to work a lot during race weekend because I want to have good races here in Misano.”
Pere Riba, Crew Chief for Alex Lowes, stated: “The final day was busy because the day was short. Even with the period of rain we still did as much as we could. The target was to try electronic things, mainly, to understand more for the race weekend at Misano and future races. We collected very good information and it seems like we made a step. The direction of where we want to go is clearer. For the rest, we tried some different items for the chassis and again prepared for race weekend. We tried a couple of Q tyres but we did not focus 100% with that. It was more with the SCX tyre, which is the race tyre. I am proud of him because he did a very, very good job.”
Marcel Duinker, Crew Chief for Axel Bassani, stated: “We had two main areas where we wanted to improve in this test. One area we worked on yesterday with a very positive result and another one we did on the final day. The rain removed a couple of hours of our track time on the final day, but I can only be very satisfied with the results of our tests. On race tyres Axel was really fast and really happy with the bike. After the first three rounds of the season we understood very well where we really needed to improve. One was in the Superpole performance, because in the first three rounds we were not extracting the correct performance from the Q tyre. In the last hour many people used a Q tyre but we had just a little crash because the exhaust grounded on a rumple strip during cornering. Because of this we still had a couple of items to try to improve the performance on the Q tyre, but it was not possible as we just had 15 minutes left. Overall, I am a very happy man after this test.”
Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) used his KRT supplied Ninja ZX-10RR machine to finish 12th fastest overall, with a 1’33.856 lap time set relatively early on the second day of testing. He made a strong preparation for what will be his team’s first home round of the season at Misano.
2024 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics
Alex Lowes:
2024: Races: 9, Wins 2, Podiums 3, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 4 (3 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 37 (17 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 1 (0 for Kawasaki)
Axel Bassani:
2024: Races: 9, 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: 545 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 108 – second overall
#NinjaSpirit
#KRTNewStart2024 morning on the second day, when occasional light rains brought about a mandatory early break for lunch at 12.00, not 13.00 as planned. Heavy rains in the early afternoon, and then some short periods of very light rain for some time after that, compromised the plans of many riders and teams.
Lowes mainly concentrated on electronics and chassis options at this test. His best lap time of 1’33.458 was set on day two, and placed him eighth overall, despite not getting a clear chance to make a single fast lap at full pace on a Q tyre.
Bassani’s best lap time of 1’33.929 saw him 15th on the combined timesheets over the two days of testing, with his main advances coming in terms of front end confidence on both race tyres and Q tyres.
After the testing work is now complete the next track outing will be at round four of the championship, which will take place at Misano between 14-16 June.
Alex Lowes, stated: “The second day was good even through in the morning it started to rain and we got a bit unlucky. We tried quite a big change on the bike, on the chassis, but then it rained. And then this afternoon it started to spit with rain every time we tried to go out. When the track was dry enough, with about an hour and half to go until the end, we tried the different chassis set-up. We were happy with that. We did two runs on that set-up and then returned to the base bike, with some back-to-back testing on that and more work on the electronics. It was quite good, honestly. The first time I tried the Q tyre was today, with this new chassis set-up, and I was able to do a 1’33.4 lap time, so I was quite happy with that. We are improving all the time.”
Axel Bassani, stated: “There was some difficult weather today so it was not easy to try to find a good time to go out on track. But, for sure we found something to make things feel better on the bike, especially with the front. We changed a lot of things and the feeling on the front, with a Q tyre on the rear, was nicer than before. I am happy about that. Step-by-step we are trying to arrive closer to the front and for sure with a race tyre option I was nearer to my team-mate Alex. I am happy with the work we did with the team and now we have to work a lot during race weekend because I want to have good races here in Misano.”
Pere Riba, Crew Chief for Alex Lowes, stated: “The final day was busy because the day was short. Even with the period of rain we still did as much as we could. The target was to try electronic things, mainly, to understand more for the race weekend at Misano and future races. We collected very good information and it seems like we made a step. The direction of where we want to go is clearer. For the rest, we tried some different items for the chassis and again prepared for race weekend. We tried a couple of Q tyres but we did not focus 100% with that. It was more with the SCX tyre, which is the race tyre. I am happy with the job Alex has done. He has been very clear and calm, focused on giving good information to us to help us understand what we have to do. And his attitude was really good, even in front of some difficulties when we are working. This is also something we have to manage. I am proud of him because he did a very, very good job.”
Marcel Duinker, Crew Chief for Axel Bassani, stated: “We had two main areas where we wanted to improve in this test. One area we worked on yesterday with a very positive result and another one we did on the final day. The rain removed a couple of hours of our track time on the final day, but I can only be very satisfied with the results of our tests. On race tyres Axel was really fast and really happy with the bike. After the first three rounds of the season we understood very well where we really needed to improve. One was in the Superpole performance, because in the first three rounds we were not extracting the correct performance from the Q tyre. In the last hour many people used a Q tyre but we had just a little crash and because of this we still had a couple of items to try to improve the performance on the Q tyre, but it was not possible as we just had 15 minutes left. Overall, I am a very happy man after this test.”
Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) used his KRT supplied Ninja ZX-10RR machine to finish 12th fastest overall, with a 1’33.856 lap time set relatively early on the second day of testing. He made a strong preparation for what will be his team’s first home round of the season at Misano.
2024 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics
Alex Lowes:
2024: Races: 9, Wins 2, Podiums 3, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 4 (3 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 37 (17 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 1 (0 for Kawasaki)
Axel Bassani:
2024: Races: 9, 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: 545 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 108 – second overall
#NinjaSpirit
#KRTNewStart2024