Bimota made a strong WorldꦜSBK test debut in Jerez, but there are still steps to be made in understanding the new bike for Alex Lowes.

Lowes, who has ridden the Kawasaki ZX-10RR for the Akashi marque’s factory team since 2020, finished second to his teammate, Axel Bassani, on the second and final day of this week’s Jeꦗrez test, but was keen to emphasise how early on the project is🎐.

“It was good to start this new challenge,” Lowes told WorldSBK.ꦆcom following the conclusion of the two-day Jerez test.

“Obviously, we’re starting to exඣplore the bike, we need to unꦜderstand how the changes make the bike feel, what I need from the bike, maybe riding style changes to get the most from the bike.

“There’s lots of things to do, lots of work to do, but it was nice to get started, I enjoyed riding the bike, the feeling wa🎉s honestly nice from the first laps this morning.

“So, ꧃it’s been a really good, fun first day onꦛ the bike.”

Much of the work to be done, Lowes saꦫid, was about understanding the bike and how it reacts to certain setup c😼hanges.

“Obviously, ⭕it’s the start point we have here,” he said. “We know the track well from the race weekend, so you’re already up to speed, so it was really important to, let’s say, test the bike now.

“This winter, it’s not just setup changes, it’s also understanding the bike; me understanding what the bike needs, the changes on the bike🐲, how the bike reacts to changes.

“Thisꦿ is gathering information✤ that puts us in a good position for next year.

“We started to try some things already in the afternoon today, and it’s so interesting to me because it’s different to the past, a꧙nd it’s great to be able to use my ex🅘perience and try to understand the bike.”

The m💝ajor differe🅰nces between the Kawasaki ZX-10RR and the Bimota KB998 are in the aerodynamics and the chassis. Lowes was pleased with the latter, and complimented the new bike’s handling.

“It feels good,” Lowes said. “The way the bike turns and handles is nice, it’s smooth, it♈ turns well.

“Thenℱ, on top of that, the rider feeling, and the effort you put in goes with getting c♕omfortable on the bike and the setting changes on the bike.”

As a result, there are differences between the hand▨ling characteristics of the bikes, even if they share an engine.

“It’s surprising,” Lowes said. “I think the bike needs to be ridden in 🍃a different 🙈way.

“I rode the Kawasaki for five years, I felt like I was able to take everything from the bike. This bike I think you need to ride a little bit smoother, and I need to change my riding style to get everythi👍ng out of the bike and understand it a bit more.

“Right now I feel like I’m not really using the bike, so I💝 think I’ll know a bit more about that in the nex🎉t test coming up. It’s difficult, when I know the old bike so well, to really understand.”

Lowes was cautious to ꩵread too much in♔to the performance at Jerez, though, and was focused on continuing to learn about the KB998 at the next test in Aragon next week.

“We need to keep [making changes] next week, because the more Iꦇ understand about the bike, the more I understand how to ride the bike, will put me in a better position,” he said.

“The grip’s quite good today, the temperatures are quite low, the 𓆏grip’s high, sometimes this can help a lot of the problems.

“So, I need to be ready for when the grip drops and u💯nderstand how to keep riding꧅ the bike over the race distance, because that’s what’s going to get us the results next year.”