Before the first 21-lap race of the final 2024 WorldSBK weekend took place under sunny skies at Jerez in Spain, the Superpole Qualifying session witnessed Lowes take third best lap time and Bassani the 14th best. That meant Alex started Race One from the front row of the grid, but Axel launched from row five.
Lowes fought hard to stay in podium contention, with eventual race winner Nicolo Bulega and new World Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu riding out in front of the chasing riders. Lowes came within just 1.888 seconds of another podium finish, but scored really important points in his overall championship fight for his top four finish.
Axel made good early progress from 11th position on lap one, securing eighth place and then riding well to keep other riders behind him, despite having some grip issues at times.
Alex moved back into fourth place in the championship rankings after Race One, and will be out to maintain that status in the two remaining Sunday races.
The last two competitive events in the 2024 season will be a ten-lap Superpole Race and then a 21-lap Race Two, on Sunday 20 October.
Alex Lowes, stated: “Today was a lot better than yesterday. Even on the used tyres in FP3 this morning I was quite fast and we had grip on the bike. With more grip on the bike in Superpole I set my best ever lap of Jerez. I am getting older but still getting faster. That is positive and it was good to start from the front row, because WorldSBK is so tight now there are fifteen or sixteen guys who think that with a good start they could get on the podium - myself included. You need a bit of luck on the first lap. In the race itself, I felt great in the middle part, but towards the end I lost a bit of grip and drive off the corner. I thought maybe I would have a chance to attack Andrea, but he kept his pace and I lost some grip, so we will try to see if we can improve that for tomorrow.”
Axel Bassani, stated: “The race was fun despite starting from P14. During my first lap of Superpole I found Jonathan Rea, who had crashed, in the middle of the track, so we lost that opportunity to set a faster lap. From the start of the race I lost some positions. Then the pace was good but I was struggling a lot with the front tyre from the beginning. Then I started to manage that and then the rear started to drop a little bit, but that is normal. We finished in eighth position, which a good result, and we were really near to a top five. We will work to try to find more for tomorrow.”
Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) qualified 18th and finished 16th in the intense 21-lap opening race.
KRT supplied Ninja ZX-10RR
2024 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics
Alex Lowes:
2024: Races: 33, Wins 2, Podiums 11, Superpoles 1
Career Race Wins: 4 (3 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 45 (25 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 2 (1 for Kawasaki)
Axel Bassani:
2024: Races: 34, 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: 553 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 109 – second overall
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