Confirming the news we already reported on, Alex Lowes will leave the Pata Yamaha team at the end of the 2019 WorldSBK, and move into green colors for next year, as the teammate to Jonathan Rea in the Kawasaki Racing Team.
Lowes replaces Leon Haslam in the factory Kawasaki team, and brings with him a great deal of knowledge on Team Green’s fastest rising competitor: Yamaha.
In addition to being already a strong rider in the WorldSBK Championship, Lowes as proven his mettle in the Suzuka 8-Hours, winning the prestigious race three times in a row, from 2016 to 2018.
Kawasaki will undoubtedly be looking to Lowes’ experience at Suzuka a the KRT squad looks to defend its 2019 victory next year, but that might be getting ahead of ourselves.
For now, Alex Lowes looks like he will be a strong teammate to Jonathan Rea, and a true #2 rider at the team. We expect to see the English rider adapt quickly to the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR, and challenge not only for podiums but race wins.
The question will be, however, can Lowes challenge Rea for the 2020 WorldSBK Championship title? That remains to be seen of course, but we suspect those doing the victory math at Ducati Corse just saw a new variable enter the calculus. As such, stay tuned for next season.
“KRT welcomes a 27-year-old rider with a lot of pace and good experience,” said Guim Roda, Team Manager of KRT. “Our target is to ‘polish’ Lowes and try to make him a candidate for the title too.”
“And he has a long career ahead. He has shown very good skills during these years and for sure the potential is there. We’ll try to use all the tools at our disposal in KRT to help him show his best.”
Steve Guttridge, Kawasaki Europe Racing Manager, added to that, saying: “All at Kawasaki would like to send a warm welcome to Alex, who will join the elite Kawasaki Racing Team for next season in WorldSBK – partnering up with the all-time greatest Champion Jonathan Rea inside our Factory team.”
“Alex is known to be a very hard worker and shows 100% commitment in every race. This attitude, combined with his talent and a clear enjoyment of his job, means that we are very confident that, along with the great staff we have inside KRT and on the Ninja ZX-10RR, this will be the start of a very exciting new era for all.”
Source: Kawasaki Racing Team; Photo: © 2018 Jensen Beeler / Asphalt & Rubber – All Rights Reserved
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