As the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship charges into the second half of the year, it was a good time to grab various representatives from up and down the paddock to get their thoughts on the first half of the season. 2024 has already been a winning year for Kawasaki with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and team principal Guim Roda’s been happy despite the limitations the team face with their engine power. He gave a big overview of 2024, commented on what might’ve been if Jonathan Rea had stayed and gave insights into the first big visual change for 2025’s Bimota project.

2024 SO FAR: “We’re maximising the material we have”

2024 has been better after seven rounds than after seven of 2023 for KRT, with Roda assessing how it’s going: “Technically, we can consider it an upgrade with reference to the past but still, the aim is to stay at the front. We need to be realistic; we have some limitations in terms of engine power and performance, according to the bike being the oldest one and we need to face this point and do the best possible. In Race 1 at Portimao, we saw Alex lose a lot of positions on the straight and he needed to make up time in the rest of the lap. Overall, we’re quite happy as we’re maximising the material we have. Still, we can improve, this is always possible but we need to find a way. With Axel, he’s arriving step by step; he’s understanding how to ride the bike and how to improve sectors, managing his past experience so overall, we’re quite happy with the evolution of the riders and the teamwork and we’re happy to be part of the show. We still miss a little bit at the end of the race but we’re quite happy.

“We could introduce the parts that we prepared last year as a superconcession but this is like peanuts for the real power we need. Of course, it’s a help but we improved in other areas to compensate this. We’ve worked a lot in electronics, suspension, bike setup according to new tyres, some polishing on the engine according to the rules. There’s a lot of work to be done, not just in one area. We did some items and also, the riders – a more important point – extract the maximum from that. This season is still ongoing and we need to work in parallel, taking care of 2025 and everything we have to do but also, not losing the focus of 2024 because the target is to be in the top three and this is possible. We’ll fight for that, not relax and there’s still a lot of things to do. We’ll use the tests to make the necessary steps.”

IF JONNY HAD STAYED IN GREEN? “We’re extracting the bike in another way… a very complex question to answer”

With Kawasaki making gains and Jonathan Rea terminating an agreement with the team to join Yamaha, something that has seen the #65 struggle in the first half of 2024, the question of ‘what could’ve been’ has been a topic: “It’s difficult to say. Jonny was used to riding the bike in a way and now, we’re extracting the bike in another way. I don’t know but it’s difficult to answer. Even last year, Alex was very close or on the same level as Jonny in terms of speed and he just basically missed the consistency, not the speed itself. This year, he improved his consistency, so when you can ride the bike at a lap time that it allows, you need to work on the consistency. We improved the speed a bit compared to last year but Alex has more consistency. The only way to fairly answer this is to have both on the same bike and then answer but then, you could make the same question with Toprak and Jonny at Yamaha. The bike needs to be well-suited to the rider, the rider needs to understand how to extract the most, so it’s a very complex question to answer.”

THE BOX WITHOUT A SIX-TIME WORLD CHAMPION: “It’s always a more comfortable way to work when the expectation is less”

Having commented at the start of 2024 that expectations will be naturally less, Roda said of how this has had an impact within the box: “It’s always a more comfortable way to work when the expectation is less and for sure, with a six-time World Champion in the team, the expectation is super high and this puts a lot of pressure to work on them. Doing the same job or a very good one this year, we’ve been more conservative in the expectations, so this makes the results we achieve worthy and people are happier as it’s on the way to the target we set at the beginning of the year. There’s a pressure when you take a rider like Jonny or Toprak or Alvaro who have already been World Champions and they can’t be less than that. With Alex, we’re building a good, solid base point and also with Axel, so let’s see where we can arrive.”

BASSANI’S FIRST YEAR: “A realistic goal for Axel could be a podium; he has the capacity to go fast”

Setting the targets for new recruit ‘El Bocia’, Roda believes a rostrum is within his grasp: “A realistic goal for Axel could be a podium, why not? He’s showing more speed step-by-step. He has the capacity to go fast but still needs to learn when and how. He’s on the way with many races to go and when the temperatures cool down, we have a little bit more possibility to go. When we lose the grip in the tyre, we can’t extract the most from the bike because you lose grip when turning so then it’s difficult to take profit of the engine power. With good grip conditions, we can extract all the potential of the chassis and the bike and why not, in the next rounds, make another step and be closer. At Portimao, in the hot conditions, we were close to the top guys and we’re working in a good way. Let’s see what we can do.”

BIMOTA AND 2025: “The bike is not going to be green… we’ll have more areas to cover with new roles”

Talking about 2025 with the Bimota project, Roda remained tight-lipped but did give us something: “The bike is not going to be green! It will be a nice machine to ride with and I’m sure the fans will really enjoy this challenge that Kawasaki have decided to take. To bring a new brand to the Championship and be focused with the Superbike but I can’t explain too much more than this. There will be improvements within the team and we’ll have more areas to cover with new roles but this is linked to find the right people to cover it, the budget… we have a wishlist to improve but we need to work step-by-step with Kawasaki and sponsors to see how it’s possible to grow up.”

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