Japanese bike maker Kawasaki has announced it plans to pull out from WorldSBK at the end of the 2024 season. While the factory team will be dropped from the WorldSBK 2025 grid, Kawasaki will continue its involvement in the championship as an official partner to the newly resurrected Bimota. The new team will use a Kawasaki engine and Bimota chassis for its new motorcycle.
Bomota will return to WorldSBK having previously participated in races till 2014.
Provec Racing has been running the Kawasaki WorldSBK factory team since 2011 and the same squad will now be running the new Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team programme. As part of the tie-up, Kawasaki will supply its engine from the Ninja ZX-10RR and pair to the Bimota chassis, while also transferring some of the staff members from the KRT squad to the Italian brand.
Speaking about the decision, Hiroshi Ito, President and CEO – Kawasaki Motors, said, “Bimota has an enviable reputation for excellence in motorcycle design and manufacture. As part of our vision for the evolution of this world-famous brand, we see racing as a logical next step in terms of both product development as well as brand exposure on the global stage. 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. The passion for race success remains and we look forward to the presence of the Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team on the 2025 WorldSBK grid”.
Pierluigi Marconi, COO – Bimota, added, “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 the next step in our evolution. Bimota has had racing as part of its DNA from day one and to compete in WorldSBK alongside developing our new product range, while expanding the European and global dealer network, has an undeniable logic to it. With the unparalleled experience of the existing Kawasaki racing team experts plus the full support and cooperation of Kawasaki Motors, Ltd. in Japan fills us with pride and optimism. The Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team will surely form the foundations of the next chapter in the Bimota story.”
The announcement comes after Kawasaki’s star rider and six-time WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea announced his departure late last year to join Yamaha. Meanwhile, the other riders including Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani have their contracts up until the end of this season. This makes things unclear about who will ride the new Bimota bikes next season.
Kawasaki’s move to leave WorldSBK and make way for Bimota seems understandable considering the Japanese manufacturer acquired a 49.9 per cent stake in the company in 2019. Since then, the latter has developed models such as the Bimota BX450 enduro motorcycle, which shares underpinnings with the Kawasaki KX450. There’s also the Bimota Tesi H2, which essentially is the Kawasaki H2 with a new front swingarm and hub centre steering as in on the traditional Bimota Tesi bikes.
This won’t be Bimota’s first time at WorldSBK. The brand was part of the championship until 2014 when it ran under the ‘Evo’ regulations, which restricted electronics on the motorcycle. Bimota used the BB3 model that debuted the year before in production form at EICMA, which borrowed its engine from the BMW S 1000 RR. However, Bimota was banned from WorldSBK after it failed to meet the production volume required for homologation.
The announcement also means that Bimota is developing a new homologation-ready motorcycle that will arrive next year for WorldSBK. The bike could be an extensively reworked Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR with the brand’s own touch. However, there’s no word on how extensively different it will be.
