How will Alex Lowes fare on the 2020 WorldSBK Kawasaki ZX-10RR?

Alex Lowes anticipates his new Kawasaki ZX-10RR to be ‘quite a lot different’ to his experience with the Yamaha R1 as he prepares to make his ‘Team Green’ debut at Motorland Aragon this week when 2020 WorldSBK preparations kick off with testing.

The Briton is one of several high-profile movers in a significantly reshuffled grid for the 2020 WorldSBK season, Lowes leaving Crescent Racing after seven seasons – five of which he spent on Yamaha machinery – in favour of a move to multiple WorldSBK champions Kawasaki.

Paired with Jonathan Rea, Lowes will get his first taste of Kawasaki ZX-10RR machinery at Motorland Aragon and he is expecting it to behave rather differently to the Yamaha R1 he helped develop into a race winner.

“It’s really exciting for me, it’s like the first day back at school, meeting new people in my new environment. The most exciting thing is riding the bike next week.

“We have a couple of tests this month, for the first test I am just excited to be getting on the bike, working with my new crew and give me time to understand the bike. We have to be best prepared as possible for Phillip Island.

“For sure, the characteristics of the bike are going to be quite a lot different and that is why I am so excited, to understand strengths and what I need to work on. I can’t wait to get to Aragon to get started.”

How will Alex Lowes fare on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR?

As one door closes, a bigger one seems to have opened up for Alex Lowes.

Having been rather unceremoniously dropped from the Yamaha team in favour of Michael van der Mark and Toprak Razgatlioglu – despite going on to defeat both in the overall 2019 WorldSBK classification – Lowes has arguably landed an even better deal with Kawasaki.

Replacing the out-of-favour Leon Haslam, who in turn could well find himself in a nice position for 2020 after being announced with Honda, Lowes has the compliant and well-sorted Kawasaki ZX-10RR at his disposal next season and while that ramps up the expectation for many, no-one will expect more than Lowes himself.

An adept development rider and a smooth one at that, Lowes’ race-craft came on leaps and bounds in 2019, meaning the switch to a new – arguably better – bike in 2020 is an ample opportunity to keep developing rather than keep heading towards the glass ceiling he was approaching on the outgoing R1.