Bimota made their MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship return at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto with two days of testing. Florian Marino took over testing duties on Day 1 before bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team race riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani jumped on the bike on Day 2, racking up plenty of mileage and gathering lots of data and information as they looked to start the new project in the best possible way with positive feedback coming from the camp so far.

With test rider Marino on hand for duties on Tuesday, Lowes and Bassani got their first taste of the machine on Wednesday – you can read their feedback plus a technical overview from Team Manager Guim Roda HERE. Roda explained some of the feedback the manufacturer had gathered from all three riders as the project looks to the season-opening Australian Round in February 2025, with plenty more tests to come between now and then.

Discussing the feedback received so far, Roda said: “The way we worked was great. We collected a lot of information with the new bike and, on Day 1, worked with Florian to make sure everything was working well with the bike fully assembled. We just had to adjust a few points to make sure everything was ready to go. On Wednesday, we had the crew chiefs with the riders, and the rhythm they took from the weekend, which was good as they could really feel the points to adjust and they were able to go fast, but, at the same time, understand the bike characteristics and areas to improve so we gathered a lot of information. With this base bike, we were already able to go fast, so expectations for the future are quite positive. We’re happy that the base bike is working. We understand the engine character with this new chassis and now we need to work a lot.”

During the test, Bassani posted a 1’38.478s as he topped the second day of running ahead of teammate Lowes. That time was around half-a-second quicker than ‘El Bocia’ managed during the Spanish Round on the ZX-10RR, with his best during the weekend a 1’38.917s. Lowes’ best was a 1’38.679s at the test as he finished behind his teammate, with the #22 unable to match or better his best time from the round – although with five seasons on the ZX-10RR compared to Bassani’s one, he has more to ‘unlearn’ as he adapts to the new bike.

Talking about the strong start to testing for the team, Roda said: “It’s good. Maybe it’s not better than expected, but it helps calm things down when the starting point is quite strong. When we transform the prototype to the mass production bike, as we have to take care of some production limitations, we could achieve a good product. We have to say we are quite surprised and happy that the starting point is so good.”

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