The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s Bimota-powered rider pair of Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) and Axel Bassani ride away from MotorLand Aragon with proud results in hand as their results took a step forward in Spain. Alex Lowes landed a pair of P4s and a P5, his best takeaway since Portimao, and Bassani in P8, P6 and P5 got the closest he’s been to the podium since Australia.
“I’d like to be fighting with my brother for the podium but we’re a little behind”
This season continues to be uphill sledding in pursuit of the podium for the Bimota riders, as while they have performed well in most of the season’s six rounds, Aragon’s long back straight was always going to make it a tough round to compete with the top-end power of Bimota’s rival Italian manufacturer. In the final sector, which contains the back straight, Lowes’s times ranked 12th, 14th and 11th, proving to be an anchor on his overall lap times. As such, the #22 will have to wait another round to do battle in the top three with his Ducati-powered brother, Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), much to the chagrin of the #22.
On his final day at Aragon this season, Lowes said: “I’m really happy with our work today, I was able to ride more consistently and make some small steps with the bike. I was able to ride a lot more consistently. It was a lot better than how I was riding at the start of the weekend. The guys did a good job with the bike, and we made some small steps forward. We’re still quite far; I’d like to be fighting with my brother for the podium, but at this track, we were a little behind them. We just have to keep trying to improve for the upcoming weekends. At the test earlier this week, we were both really strong. Garrett has also been really strong on the Kawasaki, but when we see the gap to the front, we need to keep pushing. We aren’t up at the front yet, but behind the Ducati, we are the second on the grid.”
“I was sliding a lot on the rear, I changed it, and it started to work again”
Axel Bassani is yet to get back on the podium since his breakout debut round double at Phillip Island, yet Bassani’s results here are a continuation of a welcome return to form after off-pace results at Assen and Balaton. ‘El Bocia’ was happiest with his Race 2 performance, which featured the Italian jumping off from P6 before he fell back to P7 by the end of the opening lap. He rolled up his sleeves and found a solution to an electronics issue causing a lack of grip on the rear and overtook Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) on the subsequent lap, before passing Rookie Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) on Lap 8. He then tried to maximise his pace to catch his teammate, locking in to register consistent times in the low 1’50s range; only one lap above a 1’50.4 and his best lap of the race arrived on Lap 11 in the form of a 1’49.691s time. The gap proved insurmountable, and he finished just under two seconds behind his British teammate.
On his Sunday at Aragon, Bassani said: “I think it was a really positive Sunday; we had a really good Superpole Race and a hard battle with Alex in the first laps. It’s been really nice. We finished in P6. Race 2 wasn’t bad, but I had some electronic problems in the back; it felt like I was sliding a lot on the rear. I changed it, and it started to work again. It took some laps to overtake Surra; he was very strong on the new tyre. After overtaking him, I tried to focus on my pace, without pushing too much. I finished in P5 with no mistakes. We improved across the entire weekend, P8, P6 and P5, so we finished in a positive way. This weekend was really difficult, especially for the guys in the box with how hot it was. These results are our level, but I think if we stay positive, we can get more results like this.”
Catch the Bimota boys next round at Misano, kicking off on June 12th! Tune in with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 50% off!