WSB: Alex Lowes signs new two-deal with Kawasaki

Alex Lowes has signed a new two-year deal with the factory Kawasaki team which will see him remain in green for at least the next two seasons.

Lowes joined Kawasaki ahead of the 2020 season and has since secured a single victory and eight podiums. Lowes currently sits fourth in the 2021 championship, 35 points behind third-placed Scott Redding.

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“I’m really happy to have signed once more with the Kawasaki Racing Team, the most successful team in the current era of WorldSBK,” Lowes said. “After a strange first year in the team last year due to the global situation and with such a short season, it has been good to start this year at some different tracks and I am understanding the bike a lot more.

“It has also been slightly frustrating this year because I feel like we started strongly but the results are not quite where we would want them to be right now. We have a lot of potential, and I am still in the top four of the Championship; close to the top three, which is the target for this year.”

The World Superbike Championship heads into uncharted territory in the coming weeks, starting with a trip to Most in the Czech Republic next weekend (August 6-8). The paddock then heads to Navarra in the north of Spain.

“I will be working hard for the next few weeks to make that next step to be regularly challenging for the podium,” Lowes added. “Honestly, I feel like it is close, so with this team and all these guys around me – with the relationships we have been building – everything is in place now to push things forward. I am really thankful to stay in the team next year, and proud of the faith that Kawasaki has shown in me.

“In our job there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes than the results that you see on the track, so I am really happy about this new deal with KRT. A massive thanks to all the guys behind the project, to Guim and Biel Roda, Steve Guttridge and all the people at KHI in Japan for believing in me again.”

Lowes moved to WSB with Crescent Racing Suzuki after winning the BSB title with Honda in 2013. That year, Lowes secured two podiums, adding another podium to his name in 2015, before he and the team switched to Yamaha machinery in 2016.

After a difficult first year on the YZF-R1, Lowes clinched four podiums in 2017 before securing a maiden victory at Brno in 2018. Lowes ended his 2019 campaign third overall in the WSB standings.

“Alex started with KRT during the COVID-19 pandemic,” KRT team manager Guim Roda said. “He needed to learn quickly and concentrate on making championship points in those first three months; not easy. For 2021, he started the season strongly and we are all working to make those important steps to improve the performance of the overall package.

“We are so happy to have Alex and he is highly motivated to continue with the KRT project. With this two-year agreement we are convinced that we will now build on these firm foundations to create the strongest package with him, his crew chief Marcel Duinker, the Ninja ZX-10RR and the entire KRT organisation.”

Lowes’ new deal comes after Toprak Razgatlioglu and Garrett Gerloff committed their short-term futures to Yamaha. Despite interest from the MotoGP paddock,Razgatlioglu penned a new two-year deal, whilst Gerloff signed a one-year extension.

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