Popular Kawasaki Racing Team rider Alex Lowes will remain an official Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship competitor next season, having re-signed with KRT shortly before his home round at Donington Park.
Lowes has been a full-time WorldSBK rider since 2014, one year after winning the British Superbike Championship. At the start of his national level career in his native UK, during the 2005 season, Alex rode 125GP machines, then enjoyed a season in British Supersport before eventually stepping up to a bigger stage near the end of 2008.
He scored an instant podium in the intensely competitive European Superstock 600 championship with the O Six Kawasaki team, before graduating to the Stock 1000 championship in 2009. Alex then moved back to the UK scene for the 2010 season, riding a variety of machinery. Building pace and confidence after entering the Superbike class in 2011, Alex also rode as a wild card in four WorldSBK races that season. Lowes rose to the status of British Superbike champion in 2013, winning a close fight with Shane Byrne.
He made the transition to WorldSBK at good pace, securing two podiums and two fastest laps in his first season. A change of manufacturer inside WorldSBK saw him prove his capabilities as he grew in experience. His first race win came at Brno in the Czech Republic, in 2018. Lowes was also an important part of the riding line-ups that won the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours race for three years in succession between 2016-2018.
Moving to KRT alongside the WorldSBK racing phenomenon that is Jonathan Rea in 2020, Alex rocked the whole WorldSBK world by winning the final race of his first competitive Kawasaki weekend, at Phillip Island in Australia – shortly before the global pandemic arrived to change the racing landscape for all. Alex has continued to score podiums and overcome periods of injury, making his re-signing with KRT for 2024 a popular and positive decision.
Lowes is now able to focus on the second half of the 2023 WorldSBK season safe in the knowledge that his immediate future is not only secure but continues inside the Kawasaki family he has been an integral part of.
Alex Lowes, stated: “I’m super excited to continue my relationship with Kawasaki into the 2024 WorldSBK season. My motivation to achieve the best results possible on the Ninja ZX-10RR has never been stronger. The number one goal now is to focus on the remainder of the current season, starting with my home race weekend at Donington. It is really nice to have confirmation that I will be racing with Kawasaki again agreed in time for my home round. I will enjoy it all the more because of that. I want to offer a big thank you to everyone at KMC, KME and all the crew at KRT for their great support in the past and their continuing belief in me. I look forward to working alongside them again next season.”
Guim Roda, KRT Team Manager, stated: “We are happy to keep Alex for the 2024 project and this gives us the stability we need in the current situation. The question was not if KRT was willing to continue with Alex. The question was if Alex was willing to continue with KRT, knowing the reality of the rules situation and our current performance capacity. We cannot offer a championship winning package if the rules don’t change. All the fans that understand a bit about racing can see this, and the only way to extract the maximum from our package is to use the experience and the brave riding of our riders. Alex has the capacity to reach the required speed to try and work within that small window we have to perform at our best. Nobody in the world can doubt that Alex is always giving his best, and we have big respect for the effort he puts into it. We don’t have time to teach young riders how to ride the bike, as some people in the paddock suggested we do. Now is the time to continue working hard and with a stable base, to take out the variables and focus on what we really know to improve our bike and make a real ‘team job.’ Alex and Johnny are competitors with each other but they are very professional and work well together. They have respect for each other and know how to extract 110% from our bike to make the best show possible. We have a lot of jobs to do now, so let’s create calm in the project by choosing the two best riders, then we can focus on working as hard and as well as possible.”
Steve Guttridge, Race Planning Manager, Kawasaki Motors Europe stated: “This is great news for Alex and for Kawasaki. We are delighted he is continuing to help develop the Ninja ZX-10RR race package and, alongside Johnny and the KRT family, this signifies an exciting next step for everyone involved. Alex is a proven race winner on the Ninja and we are as keen as he is to see him on the podium across the remainder of 2023 and across 2024. I join the fans globally in wishing him good fortune in this next phase of his career.”
