The forthcoming French race weekend will be the ninth of 12 rounds that make up the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship, which started in February in Australia.

After the most recent competitive round, at the all-new Balaton Park circuit in Hungary in late July, there has been an important test session at the host venue for the tenth round of the campaign, Motorland Aragon in Spain. That very recent track experience was useful to get everyone inside the BbKRT squad back into full track mode, and to make some technical advances on the bimota KB998 Rimini machine itself.

Although the KB998 is a newly homologated model for the 2025 season, and has been the base for bimota’s return to WorldSBK competition, it has already provided some measurable success for both of the team’s regular riders. Lowes has taken a second place in Race Two at Misano, with Bassani securing a front row start at that same round in early June.

Currently Alex sits eighth in the overall championship, with 105 points, while Bassani is 11th, with 84 points.

The Magny Cours track itself is 4.411km long and features a plethora of different corner types, from the long Estoril corner near the start to an almost dead-stop hairpin at Adelaide. The complicated lap, comprising 17 corners in all, reaches its completion at the final Complex du Lycée sections before the finish line - which is located unusually close to the final corner exit.

Three days of on-track action will get the season underway again, with two Free Practice sessions on Friday, 5 September. Superpole Qualifying and the first full 21-lap WorldSBK Race One will take place on Saturday, 6 September. On the final day, a ten-lap WorldSBK Superpole Race, and then a final 21-lap WorldSBK Race Two, will round out the WorldSBK action at the French round.

With the season now back underway, the next WorldSBK races will take place at another frequently visited WorldSBK Circuit, Motorland Aragon in Spain, between 26-28 September.

Alex Lowes stated: “Magny Cours is always a great race weekend. The French fans are always very enthusiastic. There can also be a bit of weather as well, which is a bit ‘hit-and-miss.’ But this weekend does not look too bad. Magny Cours features a track layout that I have really enjoyed. I think it could also be good for the KB998. There are lots of changes of direction and some quite tight corners, although the first section is reasonably fast, of course. It is a track that I have had some good results on, and one that I enjoy. It was nice to have had the test last weekend in Motorland Aragon and it has set us up well for the final four rounds of 2025. Our target, as always, is to fight for the best results possible. With a good Friday on track, and a good feeling on the bike, our target will be to try to fight for the podium places.”

Axel Bassani stated: “We are going back to race after the summer break, at Magny Cours. That is a circuit that no one has tested at so we will all start at the same level. There are a lot of corners where you have to almost ‘restart’ on the exit, so for us that will maybe not be the best. But we will see. Magny Cours is a completely new circuit for us with the bimota KB998 Rimini. We have nothing to lose and we have to understand what we can do once we ride the bike. We will try to finish all the races and score as many points as possible.”