Lowes re-signs with Kawasaki for 2024 WorldSBK

Alex Lowes will stay with Kawasaki’s factory team in the FIM Superbike World Championship next year, after putting pen to paper ahead of his home round at Donington Park in late June.

The one-year contract extension will lengthen Lowes’s time in WorldSBK to 11 years and his tenure with the Kawasaki Racing Team (KRT) to 5 years. The new deal will also put the 32-year-old Brit into the ‘free agent’ sector at the end of the 2024 season, alongside his teammate, Jonathan Rea, and current WorldSBK Champion and points leader, Álvaro Bautista.

Lowes’s new contract means that, at time of writing, Kawasaki is the only manufacturer to lock in its riders for the 2024 season, with Yamaha, Honda, Ducati and BMW factory teams all yet to confirm their lineups for next year.

“I’m super excited to continue my relationship with Kawasaki into the 2024 WorldSBK season," Lowes said. “My motivation to achieve the best results possible on the ZX-10RR has never been stronger.”

For the time being, Lowes said his goal is to focus on the remainder of the current season, but he added that it was really nice to have confirmation he would once again be racing with KRT.

"I want to offer a big thank you to everyone at KMC, KME and all the crew at KRT for their great support in the past and their continuing belief in me. I look forward to working alongside them again next season.”

According to Kawasaki Racing Team Manager, Guim Roda, the decision was always on Lowes to make the call to remain with Kawasaki, rather than for Kawasaki to choose. Roda added that this was down to the current WorldSBK rules preventing Kawasaki from building a package capable of winning the championship.

Since moving from Yamaha to the Kawasaki Racing Team in 2020, Lowes’s best championship position has been sixth, which he recorded in both 2020 and 2022. As of the conclusion of this year’s Donington round, Lowes has 14 top three finishes for KRT aboard the Kawasaki ZX-10RR, with one race victory - in race two at Phillip Island in 2020.

Words & Photos: Russell Colvin