It was a good first day on the bike for Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team duo Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes, with the pair finishing first and second. Bassani was the quicker of the two after ‘El Bocia’ posted a 1’38.478s to finish two tenths clear of his teammate, and both the #47 and #22 gave their first impressions of the new machine after their first day on the bike concluded on Day 2 at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto.
BASSANI’S TEST AND IMPRESSIONS: two tenths quicker than Lowes
Bassani put in a flurry of late and fast laps in the final 30 minutes of the test as he set a 1’38.478s to claim P1, although his time wasn’t as quick as the pace from Day 1; he was around three tenths slower than Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) managed on Tuesday when the #11 used the SCQ tyre. Nevertheless, the Italian moved himself into top spot for Wednesday’s running while also completing 76 laps.
Discussing his first time on the bike, and reviewing his test, Bassani said: “It’s been a really good first day with the new Bimota. It wasn’t easy in the first part because it’s a completely new bike and we had to discover everything. I think we did a really good job. The team worked well, and the bike is nice, I’m feeling good. We have a lot of work to do but, at the moment, we’re doing a really good job. My time was half-a-second better than my Superpole time last weekend. This means my feeling with the bike is good and I can push.”
P2 FOR LOWES: a late lap at the end of the day for second
Lowes, like Bassani, put in a late lap to move into second place. He posted a 1’38.679s to claim P2 and finish 0.201s down on his teammate, although he was half-a-second up on Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) in third. The Brit completed a similar number of laps to his teammate, adding 67 laps to the team’s tally; they totalled 143 on Day 2, while test and development rider Florian Marino, who tested exclusively on Tuesday, completed 72 laps.
Giving his review of his first day on the bike, four-time race winner Lowes said: “It was good to start this new challenge. We’re starting to explore the bike. We need to understand how the changes make the bike feel, what I need from the bike, maybe changing the riding style a little bit. Lots of things and work to do, but it was nice to get started; I enjoyed riding the bike. The feeling was nice from the first laps this morning. It’s been a really good and fun first day on the bike.”
ADAPTING TO THE NEW BIKE: progress for Lowes
Giving a brief overview on how he’s adapting to the bike after spending five years on the ZX-10RR: “It’s surprising. I think the bike needs to be ridden in a different way because I rode the Kawasaki for five years, and I felt like I was able to take everything from the bike. This bike, I think you need to ride a little bit smoother. I’ll need to change my riding style to get everything out of the bike and understand it a bit more. Right now, I feel like I’m not really using the bike. I’ll learn more about that in the next test coming up. It’s difficult when I know the old bike so well to really understand. The way the bike turns and handles is nice, it’s smooth and turns well. On top of that, the rider feeling and the effort you put in goes with getting comfortable on the bike and setting changes on the bike.”
Bassani also explained his adaptation, albeit from only a single year on Kawasaki machinery. He said: “It’s quite different because we have the wings, and the chassis is completely different. It’s like riding a different bike with the same engine. It’s strange because the sound is the same, but the feeling isn’t. They’re two different things. The Kawasaki was a good bike, but the Bimota is a bike of a new era so it’s good for us.”
DISSECTING THE BIKE: split chassis and engine changes
Team Manager Guim Roda gave a technical oversight of the bike, discussing the split steel-aluminium chassis and the engine. He said: “We need to discover the chassis. Basically, it’s an identity of Bimota. There’s pros and cons, as with everything in life, and it’s our job to use this concept to maximise it in racing activities, and that’s what we’re paid for; to really try to take the tools they provide to the best possible results and, for sure, we have the possibility and capacity to improve the chassis. That’s what we’re going to focus on. We worked a little bit on the engine according to what the rules allow us, and we made a step. Puccetti already compared them yesterday and today and we worked on that. It’s another job we need to do to understand how to maximise it. Everyone is always looking for acceleration and top speed, so let’s see if we can, we can’t make magic because the rules are the rules. At the level we are, small steps are important so the sum of many small details will give us a good step.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com