The 2025 Motul World Superbike Championship is now underway, with the recent Australian round having kicked off the season and, in addition to being the title partner of the Championship, Motul continues to use the series to showcase some of its strategic partnerships.
New for this season, in WorldSBK is sponsorship of the Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team (BbKRT). This new team, bringing the famous Bimota brand – @bimotabykrt – back to World Championship motorbike racing, has been created to reinforce Kawasaki’s recently announced premium strategy – which stretches across its brand, through its product and communication, to its top flight racing programme.
The new bike, designated the KB998 Rimini, represents the synergy between Bimota’s renowned craftsmanship and Kawasaki’s technical prowess. The KB998 Rimini’s development began in early 2024, with extensive testing conducted by BbKRT to fine-tune the bike for the demands of WorldSBK competition. World Superbike racing bikes are derived from production motorcycle models and the project was born with the dual intentions of creating a machine ready to race at the highest level and then use the insights gained from the race programme, to create a brilliant road bike.
The riders for BbKRT’s assault on the 2025 World Superbike Championship are Britain’s Alex Lowes – @alexlowes22 – and Italian Axel Bassani – both of whom have the potential to race right at the sharp end of the World Superbike field. In the opening round, both bikes achieved finishes in the top ten at each of the three races over the Phillip Island weekend.
Motul is intensely proud to partner with iconic premium motorcycle brands, as Motul’s head of UK Business, Andy Wait explains: “As the Official Lubricant Partner of the new Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team in WorldSBK, we embody Motul’s technological excellence alongside Bimota’s high-performance engineering. This builds on the foundation set in 2024 with the Kawasaki Racing Team, further driving development and performance.
“Our collaboration also extends to an industrial partnership with Bimota S.p.A., ensuring present and future owners of these masterpieces will get the very best of Motul’s motorcycle product range.
“Expanding under the Kawasaki umbrella, we remain committed to delivering quality, innovation, and added value to our dealer network.”
Motul also continues its strategic partnership with Honda and its HRC Racing division. The longstanding collaboration will once again not only see Motul lubricants used throughout the World Superbike Championship campaign but, as in previous years, the bikes will carry prominent Motul branding.
The riding line up remains the same as it has for the last two years, with rapid, highly rated Spanish rider Iker Lecuona once again teamed with fellow countryman, Xavi Vierge.
Honda’s 2025 contender – the CBR1000RR-R has undergone a series of updates over the winter relating to all areas of setup, electronics and suspension.
The team made really positive progress in the second half of the 2024 season, with several top five finishes and a podium for Iker Lecuona and, with the work over the winter, the overarching aim is to build on the progress made during the 2024 season and continue to pursue the best possible results on track. The opening races saw the Honda team reduced to only one rider, with Iker Lecuona crashing in Superpole qualifying and being sidelined for the weekend. Xavi Vierge finished 11th in all three races.
Motul’s partnership with HRC also once again extends beyond the World Superbike Championship, with Motul continuing its collaboration with the factory Honda World MotoX team. World Champioship Runner-Up, Tim Gasjer, is joined by Ruben Fernandez in MXGP, while Ferrucio Zanchi and Valerio Lata fly the HRC flag in MXGP2.
Follow the Motul World Superbike Championship: https://www.worldsbk.com/en