Bimota to replace Kawasaki in 2025 World Superbike Championship

Bimota will return to the World Superbike Championship in 2025, replacing the current Kawasaki Racing Team operation.

The new team will be dubbed the Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team and will see the Italian firm combine its own chassis design with a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR powerplant and related equipment.

Additionally, much of the existing KRT staff and resources will be transferred to the new Bimota operation for 2025. It is unclear if current KRT riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani will ride for Bimota in 2025.  

The partnership marks the first racing effort by Bimota since Kawasaki bought a 49 per cent stake in the brand in 2019.

“Bimota has an enviable reputation for excellence in motorcycle design and manufacture,” said Kawsaki CEO, Hiroshi Ito. “As part of our vision for the evolution of this world-famous brand, we see racing as a logical next step.”

Despite the rebranding of the Kawasaki Racing Team as Bimota, Ito reaffirmed the Japanese manufacturer’s commitment to WorldSBK racing. “Our commitment to WorldSBK is as strong as ever and we hope that this new racing project will energise fans of both Bimota and Kawasaki,” he said.

Bimota COO, Pierluigi Marconi said: “The engineering, technology, and day-to-day business support already offered by Kawasaki has put Bimota firmly back into the consciousness of the media and potential customers. Now it is time to take a next step in our evolution.”

The Italian firm is no stranger to racing, having won the 1980 350cc World Championship with Jon Ekerold on a two-cylinder, two-stroke Bimota YB3. Bimota also won seven WSBK races in the first year of the series in 1988, and won a WSBK race as late as 2000, with Anthony Gobert piloting an SB8R to victory at a wet Phillip Island.

The Kawasaki Racing Team, meanwhile, has had unprecedented success in WSBK, winning the 2013 world title with Tom Sykes, and then winning six straight world titles with Jonathan Rea from 2015 to 2020.

Current KRT Team Manager Guim Roda mentioned the success of the team, but is also looking forward to the future with Bimota. "We will spare some time to reflect on and celebrate the heritage of Kawasaki in Superbike racing," he said. "But we are also extremely excited to be a core component of this new Bimota and Kawasaki joint venture."

Bimota recently launched its KB4 and Tesi H2 models in Australia.