EXCLUSIVE: Alex Lowes reveals how WorldSBK races have become more “stressful”

After 11 years in WorldSBK, Alex Lowes has become one of the championship’s longest-serving riders, and he says that the races have become more “stressful” as the championship has become more competitive during his time in it.

When Lowes joined World Superbike back in 2014, Yamaha was not entered in a factory capacity, there was an official Suzuki team (for which he rode), Aprilia became champions with Sylvain Guintoli, Honda’s effort was still run by Ten Kate, and Ducati was in the second year of what turned out to be its final V-twin Superbike.

By now, Yamaha has rejoined the championship and become champions, BMW has re-entered the championship and become champions, and Kawasaki has won six titles in a row and been replaced by Bimota.

At present, there are six manufacturers with World Superbike teams – admittedly two funded by Kawasaki – and it’s this increase of manufacturer presence that has led to an increasingly competitive championship, in the opinion of Alex Lowes.

“Just the competitiveness of the championship,” he said when speaking to Crash.net at Motorcycle Live last November.

“There’s more teams in it now, more official teams. Since [2014], Honda, BMW, there’s certainly more competitive bikes and teams, which is fantastic. It’s so close now, as well. 

“The tyres have improved a lot; there used to be like 1.5 or two seconds drop-off in the race, now it’s minimal, which makes it harder to pass, tighter racing, more stressful. 

“Qualifying is so important now – you’re weekend can be ruined from qualifying. So, it just puts more stress and pressure on the weekends.

“But, on the other side, if you do a good weekend, it’s more rewarding. 

I’m enjoying it as much as ever, I’ve got good experience to try and use [to my] advantage. It has changed a lot, but you try to change yourself and adapt to the times.”

Lowes added that the increased competitiveness of the championship in recent years has made the races themselves more stressful because the constant battling leaves riders with little time to relax.

“To come across the start-finish line with ‘+0, five people’ on your pit board all the time can be stressful,” he said.

“I think MotoGP is similar. A lot of classes are so close now.

“You’ve got a couple of standout guys, [in 2025] it was Toprak [Razgatlioglu] and Bulega, in MotoGP you’ve got Marc [Marquez] and sometimes other guys are stepping up. 

“It is strange, because you don’t really know where you’re going to stack up, but, at the same time, it’s so close, if you do good work on Friday you know you’ll have a chance of finishing top-five on the weekend.”

Michelin won’t “be as big a change as people anticipate”

One of the biggest changes in WorldSBK’s history will come in 2027 when Michelin takes over from Pirelli as the series’ sole tyre supplier.

Or, at least, you would think that a change in tyre manufacturer after what will have been 23 seasons would be one of the biggest changes in the series’ history, but Lowes is not so sure.

“The tyres are different, the character is different,” Lowes, who rode the Michelins in a test in November but was not allowed to speak about them in detail, said.

“But the tyres are good now, it’s not like [...] the lap times are going to be three seconds different. 

“It’s going to be similar, more or less, so I don’t think it’s going to be as big a change as maybe people anticipate.”

Lowes’ contract with Bimota expires at the end of 2026, so he could theoretically miss the Michelin switch completely, but he expects his experience in World Superbike can be of value when something as major as the tyre manufacturer changes.

“I’ve only got a contract for next year with Bimota, but a change like that is fresh for everybody, it’s something different,” he said.

“I think, with my experience, I would hope that I could adapt. 

“You can look at it two ways: someone who doesn’t know [the current tyre], it’s easier because they don’t know; or someone that’s got a lot of experience maybe can find it easier to adapt. I think it will be good.”