Alex Lowes “a good person”, “the biggest difference” at a factory team - Axel Bassani

2025 is Axel Bassani’s second season as a factory rider in WorldSBK after several years with the private Motocorsa team.

Bassani’s 2024 switch to Kawasaki saw him move from a team with limited factory support from Ducati to being one of the main focuses of one of the biggest corporations in Japan.

Despite a branding change for 2025, that remains true, but Bassani says that having a teammate, rather than the additional duties of a factory World Superbike rider, has been the biggest difference for him.

“Sure, to be a factory rider changed a lot [compared] to being a non-factory rider because we have a lot of things to do,” Axel Bassani said in an interview with Crash.net at the UK WorldSBK.

“Honestly, the biggest difference for me has been to have a teammate, because for me it was normal to be alone inside the box and to work with the team.

“Now you have to share a lot of people with your teammate, but now I’m used to it and honestly it’s nice that you can work with the factory to try to improve the bike because if you have a problem they can work [for] you – if you are a private team it’s not easy, you have to use what you have.”

Bassani’s teammate for his one-and-a-half seasons so far at Kawasaki and now Bimota has been Alex Lowes, who the Italian rates as “a really good person”.

“Alex [Lowes] is a really good teammate because he’s a really good person,” Bassani said.

“In some moments, he helps me also to try to understand what I have to do.

“Your teammate is also always your first rival, so I’m always trying to be in front of him because he is the only rider has [the same bike as me] on-track, so it’s important to stay in front.

“But also, sometimes if we are on the back it’s important to understand why, you have the possibility to understand why you are on the back.

“This, I think, is important for me to grow up, it helps me to grow up, especially as a rider. In the end, I’m feeling good, I’m happy where I am but we’ll see for the future.”