Ambient conditions proved to be dry and then quite hot in the afternoon, as the French circuit hosted two free practice sessions. It was particularly warm in the afternoon’s FP2 event, which made it a useful experience for all, as these types of high temperatures are forecast to continue across the entire weekend.

Both sides of the BbKRT pit box worked on an initial set-up specific for this circuit and the ambient weather conditions, and then tried alternative set-ups on their bimota KB998 Rimini machines later in the day.

Alex ended up tenth in the overall rankings, and less than a second from the quickest lap time. Axel was 16th, and only just one second from the quickest lap, in what was a very closely contested first day of action that got the competitive action in WorldSBK back underway. The top 18 riders were covered by just 1.178 seconds.

Next up at Magny-Cours for BbKRT, on Saturday, 5 September, is FP3, Superpole Qualifying, and then the first 21-lap WorldSBK race of the weekend. 

Alex Lowes, stated: “It was a hot FP2 session today, but the weekend is going to be hot, so this was good practice. There were a lot of yellow flags at the beginning of the session, so there were a lot of interruptions. I did a long run, and felt quite good. Again, at the end of the session there were some more yellow flags. We made some changes today, so the set-up of the bike between FP1 and FP2 was quite different. Tomorrow we need to understand the positives and negatives, and try to piece together our preferred set-up to start Race One. I am happy enough. Obviously, we would want to be a little bit higher up the timesheets, but we have been working hard, I am enjoying it and I’m happy to be back racing.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “It has been quite a hard day, and the feeling with the bike so far is not really good. We tried something in the afternoon for FP2, and we improved things compared to the morning. Then we tried something different halfway through the second session, but it was not working. This is all part of our work, and it is only Friday. Today is for work and preparing for the races, so now we will check all the data to improve for tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do, but we are ready.”