Kawasaki to shut down factory WSBK team at end of 2024

From next year, the Japanese manufacturer will not be represented with a full works team in WSBK, but will continue to have an involvement in the championship as an official partner to the resurrected Bimota operation.

As part of the arrangement, Kawasaki will supply the engine from its existing Ninja-10RR to a Bimota chassis, while also transferring some of the staff members from its KRT squad to the Italian marque.

The new outfit will run under the Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team banner.

The deal marks the conclusion of Kawasaki's long History in the championship as a fully-fledged entrant, a tenure that saw it witness unprecedented success in the mid-to-late-2010s with Jonathan Rea.

Together, Rea and Kawasaki won six titles in a row between 2015-20, comfortably outgunning rivals like Ducati and Yamaha.

However, Rea quit the squad at the end of last year on the back of three difficult seasons to forge a new partnership with Yamaha, leaving the Japanese marque without the star with which it built its modern-day success.

“In the past thirteen years, myself, and all of those at the KRT workshop in Granollers, have dedicated ourselves wholeheartedly to the Kawasaki Superbike project and garnered seven WorldSBK rider titles in that time plus numerous team and manufacturer awards,” KRT Team Manager Guim Roda said.

“Now – after Kawasaki competing for nearly four decades in the Superbike championship – we are proud to be part of a new era forming the infrastructure of the new Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team. 

“For sure we will spare some time to reflect on and celebrate the heritage of Kawasaki in Superbike racing, but we are also extremely excited to be a core component of this new Bimota and Kawasaki joint venture. 

“This is an evolution for Kawasaki’s approach to the top level of production racing and we are honoured to play our role in this new project. I am confident we have the Technology and human resources necessary to succeed and it will be a fresh, energising experience fielding an impressive two-rider team in the 2025 Motul FIM WorldSBK Championship.” 

Bimota has a long History in superbike racing and is returning to the WSBK next year in part to increase the sale of its street motorcycles.

Last seen on the grid in 2000, Bimota won a number of races during its stint in WSBK in the previous century with the likes of Anthony Gobert and current Ducati MotoGP team manager  Davide Tardozzi.

Bimota COO Pierluigi Marconi said: “The engineering, Technology and day to day Business support already offered by Kawasaki has put Bimota firmly back into the consciousness of the media and potential customers, now it is time to take a next step in our evolution.

"Bimota has had racing as part of its DNA from day one and to compete in WorldSBK alongside developing our new product range, while expanding the European and global dealer network, has an undeniable logic to it.

"The Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team will surely form the foundations of the next chapter in the Bimota story."