In Superpole qualifying, Lowes ended up fourth overall, and very close to a front row start in regard to both his grid position and his lap time of 1’37.683, set on the bimota KB998 Rimini.

After his twin brother Sam was forced to withdraw from the Jerez races, due to a lingering chest injury, Alex and every other rider behind third place moved up one starting position on the Race One grid.

Bassani qualified 14th on the timesheets after Superpole, and then moved one place further up the fifth row of the grid, to start from 13th place.

Lowes made good use of his front row start and was inside the early fight for the top places. When he was passed by eventual third place rider Alvaro Bautista, the closely following Xavi Vierge also got through as Alex had been pushed wide.

Lowes would ride in sixth place to the end of the hot and intense 20-lap race at the 4.423km-long  Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto in Spain.

Bassani ended his opening race in 11th place, feeling he did not have the required rear grip to push any harder than he did. Axel stuck to his task all the way to the end of the 20-lap race, finishing up just half a second from the top ten places.

On Sunday, 19 October, there will be a ten-lap Tissot-Superpole Race before a 20-lap Race Two concludes not just the Jerez weekend action but the 2025 WorldSBK season itself.

Alex Lowes, stated: “I was happy to qualify fourth, and then I ended up on the front row because Sam was not riding. I was really happy with the Superpole lap time. In the race, I wasn’t too far off the fight for the podium, just missing a couple of tenths, especially in the second part of the race. There are certain parts of the track where I am losing so much, and we need to try to improve those areas. I did not feel that I had a package I could fight with today; I was just trying to manage the situation. I tried my best until the last lap. We kept pushing and that gave us some good information to try to be a bit better on Sunday. We are starting from the front row again, and we have put ourselves in a good position. We will try to get on the podium to finish off the 2020-21 season.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “Race One was quite difficult for us at Jerez. We struggled a lot from the beginning, so it has been quite a difficult race. The rear tyre was sliding a lot, like flat track racing. It was not easy, but we rode to the end in the best way possible. Now we will work for tomorrow, and I hope to improve a little bit for the last two races of the season.”