Jerez WorldSBK Test Day 2

Alex Lowes finishes fastest for Bimota as Manzi makes big progress, Dixon takes a tumble

WorldSBK wrapped its final track action of 2025 at Jerez with crisp sunshine, cold asphalt and a clear early marker from Alex Lowes. With the full-time grid provisionally set and attention already swinging to the season-opener at Phillip Island on 20 February 2026, teams used the full day of running to refine their 2026 base packages. Lowes led the way for bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team, chased by Yamaha’s Xavi Vierge and BMW’s Michael van der Mark, both within four tenths.

Skipping Day 1 did nothing to blunt Bimota’s momentum. Lowes pounded out 76 laps—joint-most of the field—and stopped the clocks at 1’37.825, a lap faster than Nicolo Bulega’s best efforts in both 2025 Jerez races. On the other side of the garage, Axel Bassani continued to bed in with new crew chief Uri Pallares, the experienced Spaniard moving over following Jonathan Rea’s retirement. Bassani’s 1’38.584 put him sixth and, more importantly, pointed to a stable baseline as the KB998 Rimini project carries its late-2025 form into the new year.

Yamaha once again filled the sharp end as Vierge underlined a smooth transition from Honda with a 1’38.058 for second, just 0.233s shy of Lowes. Andrea Locatelli was the second R1 in the mix with a 1’38.134, a mere four thousandths slower than van der Mark, after a productive program of chassis geometry tweaks and swingarm updates. The Italian also completed his first test with new crew chief Giulio Nava, fresh from Aruba.it Racing–Ducati, adding another thread to Yamaha’s evolving technical picture. Satellite runner Stefano Manzi matched his Day 1 standing with seventh overall on 1’38.606 as he continues his adaption to the R1.

Andrea Locatelli 
“It was a good test, but today the conditions of the track were changing quickly – different even compared to yesterday, but I think what we did around the bike was very positive. I was able to take a confident feeling and ride a good rhythm. A positive day, we know that the colder conditions help us a bit – it is not really hot like it was during the race weekend – but we understood a lot. Now we have a clearer direction to try to take another step in January. The lap time and in general the performance, we know it’s quite good but my approach is a bit conservative as we won’t know for sure until we try at a different circuit and in different conditions. We tried a lot of different parts and new setting direction, working especially on the rear to improve the grip and check back-to-back. I have a new Crew Chief working with me inside the box, Guilio and I are still learning each other but overall it is working well and I am happy!”

Stefano Manzi demonstrated notable progress, improving his pace by almost a full second from the previous day. He clocked a strong 1’38.606, completing 72 laps to place himself seventh again overall, bringing his total over the two days to 167 laps. On the other side of the garage, Remy Gardner did not take part in the Jerez test due to a shoulder injury sustained in a training incident, but is expected to return to action early in 2026.

Stefano Manzi
“First of all, I’d like to send my best wishes or a quick recovery to Remy! Then, talking about the test, it was nice to be back on the bike and to complete two solid days of testing. I’m continuing to get used to the Yamaha R1 and to the whole crew around me, which is really positive. Just like in the first test, the main goal was to put in laps and build feeling with the bike, and I think we made some good progress. Unfortunately, we’ll now have to wait until next year before getting back on track, but that’s actually a good thing: we’re doing a good job, and we’re all looking forward to what’s next. We know we need to take things step by step and stay patient. For now, I’ll enjoy a bit of rest and keep training hard to be fully ready for 2026!”

BMW’s direction of travel looked positive. Van der Mark’s familiarity with the M 1000 RR showed in both pace and volume: 150 laps across two days and third quickest at 1’38.126. New signings Danilo Petrucci and Miguel Oliveira focused on mileage and structure as they gel with electronics lead Christophe Lambert, who arrives from Bimota, while Oliveira also commenced his partnership with crew chief Andrew Pitt. Petrucci closed the book on Jerez in fifth with a 1’38.470, with Oliveira eighth on 1’38.890 after a busy stint.

Honda’s brief was clear: build understanding and a base. Somkiat Chantra led their trio in ninth with 1’39.494, test rider Tetsuta Nagashima followed in tenth at 1’39.609, and Jake Dixon ended eleventh with a 1’39.808. Times improved across the test for the full-time pair as the team prioritised familiarisation over one-lap fireworks.

Jake Dixon
“It was really really good, honestly, it’s so nice to be back on a big bike again, having that power is really really nice, but it’s a massive, massive learning curve. Unfortunately, I had a couple of crashes trying just to learn exactly how things are with it sometimes. I couldn’t be happier with the team. I’ve never been with a more professional team. There are more people in this team than I’ve ever had around me before, so that’s really nice. It’s just a massive learning curve, and I need to take my time with it. The crashes were a little silly, I was too over the limit with the braking, today I didn’t feel too good with the front, I crashed in Turn 2, it was nothing, and then the last one, I wheelied far too much coming out of T4, couldn’t get the bike stopped, ran into the gravel and put the bike down because the barrier was coming. I’m a little stiff from that last one, I could have done without that, to be fair. Not an ideal situation, but that’s racing. It’s been a great two days, a lot of laps, a lot of long runs. Unfortunately, because of the crash, we didn’t get to put a qualifying tyre in, so that’s all she wrote for today.”

Somkiat Chantra
It was really nice in my first test with Honda HRC. We worked on many things with the team, and I tried to learn the bike and learn about the Pirelli tyres. We ran a lot of laps and tried to understand everything about the bike. Day by day, we were happier and happier, we started to improve our times and try more things. We’re happy with the progress we’ve made. I need to do more laps on the bike and come to understand the tyre; I found it difficult to stop the bike at times. With more laps and more confidence, I think we can push more next year. Compared to the MotoGP bike, they’re completely different. We tried to set up the electronics similar to a MotoGP bike and we found a good way of running it, and now we just need time to go step by step.”

World Supersport also took meaningful steps toward 2026. Jeremy Alcoba set the class benchmark for Kawasaki with a 1’42.167 despite a late spill between Turns 12 and 13 that brought out the red flags. He edged Day 1 pace-setter Corentin Perolari’s Honda by 0.050s and kept WRP Racing’s MotoE convert Matteo Ferrari at bay by 0.214s. Dominique Aegerter continued his ZX-6R 636 apprenticeship with fourth at 1’43.492, while Ana Carrasco registered 1’44.077 ahead of rookie Ricardo Rossi on 1’44.135 and Petr Svoboda at 1’44.697.

2025 WORLDSBK JEREZ TEST COMBINED TIMES