WSBK, Bimota chooses continuity: Bassani and Lowes also confirmed for 2027

Bimota stays the course, continuing with the current line-up for the next Superbike season as well: will it be the right choice?

Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani will continue racing for the Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team in 2027. It was officially announced a short while ago that both riders have renewed their respective contracts. It’s not a surprise; it’s been clear for several weeks that a choice of continuity would be made for next year.

For Bimota, founded in Rimini, the Misano Adriatico round is a home event, and there’s no better occasion to make this kind of announcement. It can also provide an extra boost for the riders and the entire team as they tackle the rest of the weekend. Reaching the podium won’t be easy, with so many fast Ducatis on track, but in racing anything can happen, and you have to be ready the moment you get a chance.

With BMW having lost a superstar like Toprak Razgatlioglu and also having to deal with injuries to the new Oliveira–Petrucci duo, Bimota is the second-best manufacturer on the 2026 SBK grid. But the gap to Ducati is not small, and the fact that there are numerous Panigale V4 Rs on track makes everything more complicated. Bassani and Lowes ride the only two KB998 Rimini machines in the championship. It would help to have another team capable of contributing to development with one or two riders—no easy feat.

If in MotoGP we’ve seen Aprilia’s pursuit pay off, with results improving significantly over the past two years after so much work, in SBK Bimota would like to be the one capable of threatening Ducati’s dominance. The project is young (the KB998 Rimini debuted in 2025), and it will take time and investment to be able to fight for wins.

Bassani and Lowes will have the opportunity to ride for Bimota for a third year and are hoping for major growth in 2027. It’s worth noting that a new tire supplier, Michelin, will arrive, and it will be interesting to see if the pecking order shifts a bit. There should also be some updates to the technical regulations to try to create a more balanced championship and not a sort of “Ducati Cup.” In the meantime, it has been announced that in 2027 all teams will use the new Brembo carbon-ceramic brake discs.