Whilst there’s plenty of action in the 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, 2022 seats are being filled as Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) pens a new deal to remain a part of the Kawasaki Racing Team for the coming seasons. Having signed a new multi-year deal that will take him into his third year as an official Kawasaki WorldSBK rider, Lowes will be looking to deliver strong results throughout the rest of 2021 in order to start 2022 on a high.

Lowes made his full-time debut in WorldSBK back in 2014 with Suzuki and was on the podium twice in his rookie season. Staying with the Voltcom Crescent outfit in 2015, he was on the podium again before the team switch to Yamaha and partnered up with Pata in 2016. Front rows and top five results came as Lowes’ consistency improved. 2017 and 2018 would be breakthrough years for him, becoming a podium contender on a regular basis and, at Brno in 2018, taking a first victory in Race 2. He was third in the World Championship a year later in 2019, as his consistency stepped up a level again, before he joined Kawasaki, having spent four years at Yamaha, taking a win and 17 podiums.

2020 saw him start his new chapter in green with a bang as he finished second in Race 1 at Phillip Island before taking victory in Race 2, resisting pressure from teammate Jonathan Rea on the final lap to leave Round 1 with the Championship lead for the first time in his WorldSBK career. Since then, seven podiums and a regular contender at the front has been Lowes’ success, with three podiums to his name this year so far.

Speaking about the deal, 30-year-old Lowes shared his elation: “I’m really happy to have signed once more with the Kawasaki Racing Team, the most successful team in the current era of WorldSBK. After a strange first year in the team last year due to the global situation and with such a short season, it has been good to start this year at some different tracks and I am understanding the bike a lot more. It has also been slightly frustrating this year because I feel like we started strongly but the results are not quite where we would want them to be right now. We have a lot of potential and I am still in the top four of the Championship; close to the top three, which is the target for this year.

“I will be working hard for the next few weeks to make that next step to be regularly challenging for the podium. Honestly, I feel like it is close, so with this team and all these guys around me - with the relationships we have been building - everything is in place now to push things forward. I am really thankful to stay in the team next year, and proud of the faith that Kawasaki has shown in me. In our job there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes than the results that you see on the track so I am really happy about this new deal with KRT. A massive thanks to all the guys behind the project, to Guim and Biel Roda, Steve Guttridge and all the people at KHI in Japan for believing in me again.”

Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK team manager Guim Roda stated his view and is excited to have Lowes onboard as a key figure in the entire KRT set-up: “Alex started with KRT during the COVID-19 pandemic. He needed to learn quickly and concentrate on making Championship points in those first three months; not easy. For 2021, he started the season strongly and we are all working to make those important steps to improve the performance of the overall package. We are so happy to have Alex and he is highly motivated to continue with the KRT project. With this two-year agreement we are convinced that we will now build on these firm foundations to create the strongest package with him, his crew chief Marcel Duinker, the Ninja ZX-10RR and the entire KRT organisation.”

Following the recent announcements that Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) and Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) will both remain as they are now, Lowes is the third major signing in four weeks as WorldSBK’s seats start to fill for 2022 and beyond. Speculation is rife about who else will fill the high number of remaining places, with silly season already in full swing as the mid-way point of the year approaches.

Stay up to date with all of the signing for 2022 with WorldSBK and follow the 2021 season and all of the drama with the WorldSBK VideoPass!