The imminent two-day track outing for the exciting new BbKRT effort will take place at the now traditional DWO tests that act as a final ‘curtain-raiser’ before the racing starts for real between 21-23 February.

A new entrant and returning manufacturer for the 2025 season, the bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team has been highly active both before and after the winter-break, testing and developing the KB998 Rimini in its WorldSBK specification.

The entire BbKRT effort was unveiled in its final form at the official team launch in Rimini on 6 February. Now the final set-up steps will be taken on track before the start of round one.

The test will be unusual in some regards, in that all the teams and riders already know that the feature WorldSBK races will be run in two halves, with a mandatory pit stop for new tyres at half race distance. This mandated tyre change will allow the teams and riders to work on a more ‘sprint’ oriented machine set-up for Phillip Island.

After the end of the two-day official tests Phillip Island will host the first round of the 2025 WorldSBK Championship, between 21-23 February.

Alex Lowes, stated: “I’m looking forward to the Phillip Island tests because it is another chance to understand our bike a bit better. We did not get too many laps in European testing because of the weather. But I am excited to try the bike at another track. We have worked quite hard in the winter to find a base setting and we have a couple of things to confirm at these tests. Because of high tyre wear his track is always a little bit different to the base setting you normally run in Europe, with high speed corners and harder tyre options than the ones we generally use. I just want to get out there and see what we are working with to get ready for race weekend.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “We will have two more days on track but the reality is that we will have half days, with sessions in the morning and the afternoon. So we have to be smart to understand what we have to do during this time. I hope to find the same feeling I had in Jerez and Portimao with the bike because it was quite good. We still have to work on the rear, especially with Showa, to find the best solution. They are pushing hard and I am happy because I feel like everyone is going in the same direction. This is the most important thing. We will work hard to find the best set-up for the races and I hope the weather will be good. At the moment it is always changing, so I hope we can have more stable conditions. Now we have to understand our new bimota at this unique track in Australia.”

Guim Roda, BbKRT Team Manager, stated: “We have come here in Australia with big expectations, basically because we always want to be part of the show, trying to win. The reality is that we'll need to be patient. All is new on the bike and we need to make more mileage during this last pre-season test. Our starting point in winter testing has been so good, but race weekend is other thing. We are working so hard to give big credibility to all involved in the bimota project and the idea Kawasaki has about it, so it is big responsibility we are honoured to carry.”