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Crew chiefs are a vital component of a rider’s team, and changes can often help a rider make steps forward. Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) has a new crew chief for 2026 in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship as Uri Pallares re-joins Provec Racing after two years in Yamaha blue, linking up with the #47’s side of the garage for his second year in that role; his first was with Jonathan Rea in 2025. Team Manager Guim Roda spoke at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit about how the pair have adapted to working together, as well as the plans for the test.

MAKING PROGRESS: “Axel is understanding how to approach the bike better from a riding style perspective”

Despite it only being his second year as a crew chief, Pallares has garnered a reputation within the paddock thanks to his work within Provec Racing, when the team was known as the Kawasaki Racing Team, as a chief mechanic. With Marcel Duinker moving to a track engineering role across both Bimota and Kawasaki, Pallares was offered the opportunity to work with ‘El Bocia’ as his crew chief and the pair appear to be working well together despite limited running across tests at Jerez and Portimao, with Roda describing the Australia Test as ‘making up for lost time’. However, he was pleased with how quickly the duo appear to be making progress with their working relationship. In terms of lap times, Bassani’s best of the three sessions completed prior to Roda’s comments was a 1’29.373s set on Tuesday morning. This was around three tenths quicker than he went on Monday, and six tenths faster than his Tissot Superpole time from 2025.

Roda spoke after Tuesday’s opening session about the Bassani-Pallares relationship and the plan for both Bassani and teammate Alex Lowes: “We’re working to make up for the lost time in testing, especially for Uri and Axel. They are working together now which is new for them, it looks like they are understanding the bike and understanding each other. It’s quite positive to see them engage well together so quickly, and I think you can see Axel’s happiness reflected in his lap times. Axel is understanding how to approach the bike better from a riding style perspective. Alex and Pere are testing new points with the grip, making more extreme changes to understand the pros and cons of different setups, while Axel is using a more stable setup. Now we need to put it all together to perform well this weekend, I think the race weekend will be cooler than Day 2, so we need to keep this in mind.”

PROGRESS MADE: “We had solid races here last season, but I think we will have better lap times this year with the current bike”

While Roda revealed what they had been working on in the three sessions so far, he also went on to explain what else they could change to help find even more time. The KB998 Rimini machine looks as if it’s made a step forward so far, with Bassani in the top three in all three sessions that have been completed prior to Roda’s comments. Lowes has also been quick, although behind his teammate, as he worked on some setup changes they had hoped to make throughout the winter, as well as longer runs.

Discussing potential changes and the step that’s been made, Roda added: “There are lots of changes that can be made to the bike: balance, centre of gravity, suspension, electronic, swingarm, there are lots of things that can be adjusted on the bike to find a new direction with the bike. We’ve made a step forward for sure, last year we didn’t know much about the bike, this year with a whole season of data, we understand how the bike reacts which allows us to make changes to the bike that we understand more quickly. We had solid races here last season, but I think we will have better lap times this year with the current bike. Let’s see which positions we earn this weekend.”

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