Racing version of the new Kawasaki ZX-10RR / Superbike World Championship SPEEDWEEK.COM

Kawasaki has been unbeaten in the Superbike World Championship since 2015 and seven out of eight rider titles have been won since 2013. But in view of the new bikes from Ducati (2019), Yamaha and Honda (2020) and BMW (2021), the manufacturer from Köbe had to step forward.

The new Kawasaki ZX-10RR will be unveiled on 23 November and factory riders Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes are already competing in the Jerez tests this week on Tuesday and Wednesday.

As the race car differs from the production bike in many areas, we are currently still seeing a hybrid of this year and next year’s bike on the track.

“All of the changes to the new ZX-10RR are due to racing and have been made for the Superbike World Championship,” Alex Lowes crew chief Marcel Duinker said in an interview with SPEEDWEEK.com. “In recent years we have gathered a lot of information on where we need to improve due to increased competition. We had to react and Kawasaki did it. We’ve improved the package in every little area. Many parts look the same as this year’s car, but there are differences in all areas: chassis, engine, suspension. These small steps are very well calculated, we know how we are going. “

“The new engine gives us the opportunity to improve our performance on the track,” stressed the Dutchman. «The engine has been improved so that we can now start at a higher level – this is the most important change. It’s easy to see where other manufacturers have made progress over the past couple of years. Nothing is easier than overtaking your opponent on the straight. This lifts you up a lot. And it creates stress for your opponents because they have to do everything they can to keep up or even overtake. This challenges the rider, but also the bike and the tires. Kawasaki has done everything to make us faster on the track. We are very happy with this homologation “.