Bassani Confirmed For 2025 Bimota By Kawasaki Racing Team Project
Axel Bassani will join his current team-mate Alex Lowes in the two-man Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team project for the 2025 WorldSBK season after Axel finalised an agreement during his home round at the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’.
It was particularly apt that the agreement was concluded on the same weekend as Axel’s first home round since he joined KRT this season. Axel has been adapting to the across the frame four cylinder all the time from winter testing until now and he has relished the opportunity to work inside a factory team environment. He has been making progress race-by-race with the KRT Ninja ZX-10RR, keeping a cool head as he and his crew extract more and more performance from the package with each competitive outing and test session.
Axel is proud to have been selected to play an important role in something so important and high profile for Kawasaki and Bimota next year.
With both current KRT riders confirmed in the Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team for 2025 all involved can now concentrate fully on their current tasks, starting with securing the best possible race performances at the fourth round of the season and beyond.
Re-signing both current riders shows the confidence everyone inside the project has in the riding line-up, and a belief that there is even more potential to be unlocked. This early double rider signing also ends any speculation on the immediate future of Axel and Alex, and it is a logical step to ensure a high degree of continuity when undertaking the exciting new Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team project.
It is also another important step forward in the evolution of the new initiative, which will have the existing Kawasaki Racing Team at its heart, even with a new tech package and new partners to work with from Bimota.
Axel Bassani, stated: ”What better venue than Misano to announce my continuation with the team and involvement with a project that combines skill and commitment from Japan and Italy! As part of my personal racing journey this will help me learn more and develop as a rider. It for sure feels like a logical step by step process for my career path. I am super happy for this opportunity and in terms of confidence and focus for the remainder of 2024 it allows me to invest all my time and energy into the task of points and podiums on the KRT Ninja ZX-10RR.”
Guim Roda, KRT Team Manager, stated: “We extended the long-term agreement with Axel as he has 100% covered the expectations we had of him. His potential is shown in details of quality during the first races of 2024 season. We are so committed to give him the necessary tools to consolidate his potential. At the same time he will polish himself to understand how to ride such different bike compared to the one he used in past. Everybody in team is very happy with this continuity and we expect amazing 2025 with him”.
Steve Guttridge, Race Planning Manager for Kawasaki Motors Europe added: “These are complex times and continuity is fundamentally important. To add Axel’s commitment to the realisation that Alex is investing his experience into the new project is a giant step forward”.
Attending the Misano round of WorldSBK in person, Shigemi Tanaka, General Manager, Marketing & Sales Division, Kawasaki Motors, Ltd. concluded: “This weekend we witness the next step in the evolution of the Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team project. By securing the talents of Axel and Alex both Kawasaki and Bimota have two fundamental parts of the jig-saw in place and we can move on with the complex development of the new machine. Equally it quells speculation allowing everyone involved with the project to concentrate on a successful 2025 WorldSBK season on the Ninja ZX-10RR”.