The 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship will soon ignite and one rider is in a very happy mood after his first tests of the season. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was dogged by injury in 2021 and missed all of the remaining rounds after the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya but is now ready to go and get his season underway.

The British rider did 160 laps over the two days of testing and was in mighty form, finishing fourth overall and improving his time by more than a second from the first day to the second day. Working on electronics and aiming for more driveability from his ZX-10RR, Lowes aims to be in the mix from the start, hoping for a setup improvement, having trialled solutions from Showa.

Talking about the test, Lowes said: “I’m really happy with these two days of testing! I did something like 164 laps and last year, it was impossible for me to do two full days of testing. I was not fit enough or healthy enough, so I’m really happy to be able to give the guys all that information. Also, for myself, to build my confidence, do a lot of laps and understand the bike more. We’ve worked hard on the bike and overall, I’m quite happy.”

Talking about new parts and the working direction of the test, Lowes commented: “There were some new parts on the bike, but the general base of the bike hasn’t changed because we don’t have a new bike. I tried a new suspension balance on the bike, with the weight distribution more towards the back to help me with stopping, which allows me to have more confidence when we enter the corner. Apart from that, we had some evolution on the electronics so that we can improve the driveability, something you’re always trying to improve. These were the two main areas we focussed on; we tried the new tyres from Pirelli too. It doesn’t sound a lot but when you put it all together, it’s been quite a busy test.”

Watch day two highlights here and see what Lowes can do in 2022 with the WorldSBK VideoPass!