Track conditions proved good despite the threat of rain at times, leading to very fast early lap times which approached the established track best pace.

A slow crash into the left-handed Goddards’ Hairpin at the start of FP2 held back Lowes’ afternoon charge for a time. He recovered his competitive pace enough to finish fourth quickest in the combined times after FP2. Alex’s best lap time was just 0.283 seconds from the leading rider, Toprak Razgatlioglu, and a mere 0.061 seconds from the second fastest rider.

Bassani was eventually tenth overall from an entry of 23 on the opening day of practice. Axel found his way to his personal best lap time after making changes to his machine set-up in the final session. Only one rider in the entire field failed to improve their FP1 time in the afternoon session.

Next up for Alex and Axel will be Free Practice Three on Saturday morning, then Superpole Qualifying and a 23-lap Race One. On Sunday there will be a warm-up session, a ten-lap Tissot Superpole Race and then a final full distance Race Two. 

Alex Lowes, stated: “Overall not bad today and I felt quite good on the bike. The track was a little bit different to last year, when the surface was new and it had very sharp edges. Today, we tried some different tyres on the front and the rear. We now have some good information and if the weather is dry tomorrow there could be a couple of options to choose from. The bike feels good, better from last year to this year, and with the evolution of electronics. The feeling riding up Schwantz Curve and towards McLeans means I have more confidence when the bike starts to slide and I can put the bike where I want. That is important over race distance. Things are so close in WorldSBK now it is only small things that I need. I think I am definitely faster than last year. How much? I don’t know.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “We have finished the first day of free practice at Donington. The first session was difficult and the feeling on the bike was not so good. We tried something different but it did not work. In the second part of the day, especially on the first pitlane exit, it felt really good with a used tyre. I was able to do some good laps. The feeling on the bike was really positive. We worked a bit on the back of the bike, but on new tyres I think it was possible to do a better job. What is good is that we now understand in which way we should continue to work. I hope for some good weather tomorrow and we will see how things are.”

Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) placed himself 18th in the overnight ranking on his directly-supplied KRT Ninja ZX-10RR.

2024 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics

Alex Lowes:
2024: Races: 12, Wins 2, Podiums 4, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 4 (3 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 38 (18 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 1 (0 for Kawasaki)

Axel Bassani:
2024: Races: 12, 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: 546 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 108 – second overall

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