EXCLUSIVE: Ducati to Kawasaki switch “difficult” for Axel Bassani, Bimota “helped me”

Axel Bassani says he doesn’t know if he would’ve resigned with the Provec Racing squad in for 2026 without the Bimota project.

Provec, which ran the factory Kawasaki team in World Superbike until the end of 2024, switched to Bimota for 2025 to head up a new Kawasaki-backed project.

Bassani had joined the Spanish outfit in 2024 for what turned out to be its final season in green, but struggled in general, scoring a best position of fifth place while his teammate, Alex Lowes, won two races and was on the podium 12 times.

In contrast, Bassani’s start to the season with Bimota has been positive, especially in Misano where the Italian qualified on the front row.

Bassani explained that he struggled to make the transition from the Ducati he had ridden previously to the Kawasaki in 2024, and that the switch to Bimota for this year was “the perfect situation”.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Axel Bassani said, when asked if he would’ve re-signed for 2026 without the Bimota project, in an interview with Crash.net on Thursday at the UK WorldSBK.

“For me, it’s been quite difficult to go from Ducati to Kawasaki because it’s a completely different type of bike, you, the rider, have to completely change your riding style and your mentality.

“So, for me, it’s been not easy last year, it’s been quite a hard year.

“The new project with Bimota helped me a lot to improve my feelings, to improve my [belief] in the team because, for me, the Kawasaki was at the end of its project, so I think it’s been the perfect situation to change this year.

“Honestly, I can’t say if I [would stay] here or not, but sure the new project of Bimota has helped me a lot.”

Bassani’s Donington weekend was disappointing, with 16th in Superpole and no points scored in the races.

But he went there off the back of a positive Misano round which left him feeling positive about the way Bimota has worked so far in 2025.

“I think we are working quite good because, for us, everything is quite new, every track is new,” Bassani said.

“The engine is the same as last year, so we know how to approach every track from the side of the engine, but for the chassis it’s completely new and I think we are doing a good job.

“We are only two bikes on-track, so to improve it’s a little bit more slower than to be with five or six bikes, but I think we are doing quite a good job.

“The team is working hard to understand especially what we need for next year, because we know this year for us is like an entry year to understand where we are, and next year start to attack and try to do some good races.”

The 2025 season has been dominated by Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Bulega, who have finished first and second in all but six of the 21 races run so far in 2025.

Behind them, though, the field has been incredibly close, with a number of riders, teams, and manufacturers able to contend for top-six positions and the final place on the podium.

Bassani recognised that the field spread makes things “not easy”, and said that it puts an extra importance on qualifying.

“The first two are doing completely different work than everyone,” he said.

“But I think from P3 to P10, P11, we are all together, we can fight – anyone – for a position on the podium.

“It’s not easy because everyone is going the same, the pace is quite similar, so it’s important to do a good Superpole to try to start in the front because afterwards it’s difficult to overtake – especially for us because we are missing some acceleration, some top speed, so it’s not easy to overtake.

“But if we start in a good position we can be always from P3 to P6, also because me and Alex [Lowes] we are always quite similar together.

“In Misano, we were fast, but we were not able to put [everything] together, especially me, I did some mistakes, but the speed is there so I hope this weekend to show to the team and to everyone where we can stay.

“But I think, if we do a good job, me and Alex, we can fight for the good positions. Sure, we don’t have to put too much pressure on us because at the moment we don’t need big results, we need to be consistent and to take a lot of data for next year.”

Even with the work Bimota has done, and the results it has achieved, so far in its first year, Bassani is not getting carried away with expectations beyond 2025.

“It depends also a lot on what the other manufacturers do, because next year also Ducati will have a new bike,” Bassani said.

“I don’t know what BMW will do; Yamaha improved a little bit the bike; Honda is coming, is starting to do good work.

“So, it’s difficult if we are in the current way.

“The only thing we can do, that I can say, is that we have to work hard and try to focus on ourselves and try to do everything it’s possible to do on our potential. So, we’ll see during the season and next year.”