Bimota are making their return to the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship in 2025 with the bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team outfit running the KB998 Rimini. Riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani have impressed in testing so far by showing strong pace and consistency at several Jerez tests, and that continued on Day 1 at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. Bassani was the second fastest rider on track while teammate Lowes finished in 11^th place but found himself towards the top of the order for the majority of the day as he focused on using race tyres.

Lowes' best time of the day was a 1’41.819s as he completed 58 laps on Day 1, although he only ran in the afternoon. With rainfall ahead of the track action on Tuesday morning, very few riders ventured out in the first part of the day while the afternoon was incredibly busy as teams and riders took advantage of a drying track, although the wind and damp patches on the rollercoaster venue meant conditions were not perfect. While he fell down the order as other riders used the SCQ tyre in the closing stages, the Briton focused solely on race pace throughout his running.

The #22 completed eight stints during his running on Tuesday afternoon, varying in length between five and nine laps. His first two were five laps each, before two runs of eight and nine followed – the latter being his longest stint. Three more five-lap runs came after that but a final stint of seven laps to end his day. His best lap came on Lap 43, the final lap in his sixth stint, but the four-time race winner was aiming for consistency and got that. Only his first stint had more than one lap in the 1’45s or slower bracket, while his times gradually got faster – although with track conditions improving, this is to be expected. In his nine-lap run, Lowes completed eight laps all in the 1’43s and 1’42s bracket before he entered the pits.

Reviewing his first day, where he had to choose which test items to run with, Lowes said: “It was good. We had just half a day because the weather was bad in the morning. We have a long list of things to try, but no time really! We picked three main priorities. We had two different specs of forks from Showa, also something on the chassis at the back of the bike. It was good. I used the SC0 tyre all day so, at the end of the day, I dropped down but for most of the day, I was in the top three or four positions for race pace. This is quite good considering it’s testing and we’re trying to find the balance. Didn’t really work on anything specific settings to improve my feeling at Portimao because we still have too many things to do on the list. I’d say it was a positive day. It was my first time on the Bimota here at Portimao.  All the positives I found on the bike at Jerez, I feel the same here. I’m hoping for some dry weather on Wednesday and our main focus is on races. Normally, when I put soft tyres on, I’m able to go fast. Superpole and the Superpole Race are normally one of my strongest points, so we sacrificed that to try and improve our bike because it’s so new and we have so many things to try. Happy with Tuesday’s work.”

With the Bimota project relatively new, and Lowes coming from five seasons on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR, the Brit is well-placed to discuss where the project stands in its early days. From testing, it appears the KB998 will be competitive from the off, and Loves believes they’re starting this project off where the Provec Racing-Kawasaki project ended; with Lowes taking 12 podiums, the first time he achieved double digit rostrums in WorldSBK, and two wins at last year’s Australian Round.

Explaining where he felt the project was after winter testing, the Lincoln-born rider stated: “I spent quite a few years on the Kawasaki, and I feel that we’re starting immediately from at least the same level we finished on the Kawasaki, which is impressive, to be straight out the box like that. I’ve been trying to work hard on the test items to make sure I choose the right one. I’m quite optimistic we can have a good season.”

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