The World Superbike tests in Portimão ended with a rainy Wednesday – in which Alex Lowes was the fastest. The rider continued working with the new Bimota KB998 Rimini, despite being heavily affected by the rain – something that had already happened during the Jerez test.
The Brit commented: ‘We faced difficult weather again at this test but we have got our first taste of the KB998 Rimini at this Portimão circuit. Honestly, the feeling was good. I had half a day on the first day, working on choosing a direction from two or three possible paths – some from Showa and some from Bimota’.
Wednesday’s plans were also affected by the weather, as Lowes pointed out: ‘We were hoping that on Wednesday we would have an hour of dry weather so we could really check our speed, and the work we have done after half a day in Jerez and half a day here. The track was not in perfect condition on the final day, and there were some damp patches in the first sector. Then the weather came in and it started raining. It feels like we have wasted half a day of testing for a couple of laps – but even in my first laps on Wednesday, with some spots of rain in the air, we set a lap time similar to my best lap on day one’.
After losing so much time due to the weather, the #22 believes that their full potential has yet to be seen and admitted that more track time would have been ideal: ‘Clearly, we have not shown our full potential yet. We have been working well as a team but we have so much to do and the weather is not allowing us to do it. The work we have done has been good, and all the changes we have made we understand well. We are now excited to get to Phillip Island now and see where we stack up for the first round of the new season. We always want more time, especially with a new project, but I am feeling good on the bike. This is the most important thing heading into the new season’.