Kawasaki · History

Kawasaki Racing Team, known as KRT, is the official outfit with which Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki competes in the Superbike World Championship. Since 2011 it has been run by Provec Racing, the Catalan organisation of brothers Guim and Biel Roda and their cousin Alvar Garriga. With that team Kawasaki added two world champion riders, Tom Sykes in 2013 and Jonathan Rea from 2015 to 2020, along with the teams’ title in several consecutive seasons.

Kawasaki’s earlier Superbike years

Kawasaki has taken part in the Superbike World Championship since the early years of the series, which began in 1988. Its first riders’ title came in 1993, when American Scott Russell was crowned champion on a Kawasaki. Over the following two decades the Akashi manufacturer alternated periods of full factory involvement with quieter seasons, and the riders’ crown did not return to the brand for twenty years. That second winning era was built on a partnership with a Spanish team stepping up from the intermediate class.

From Supersport to Superbike with Provec

Provec Racing had raced with Kawasaki in the Supersport World Championship before moving up to the premier class. In 2011 the Roda and Garriga operation entered WorldSBK as the brand’s factory team, with the Ninja ZX-10R as its technical base. The move meant taking on the development of a factory machine and racing directly against the works squads of Ducati, Aprilia, BMW and Honda. The reference rider of that period was Briton Tom Sykes, who became the team’s fastest man over a single lap.

Tom Sykes and the 2013 title

Sykes led the 2013 season with clear superiority in Superpole and enough consistency to take the riders’ championship. It was Kawasaki’s first Superbike world title since Russell in 1993 and the first of the Provec era. That year the Briton also scored doubles such as the one at Donington Park in May, establishing the team as a regular title contender. Sykes stayed with KRT in the seasons that followed and shared the garage with the rider who would define the brand’s longest winning run.

The arrival of Jonathan Rea

In 2015 Northern Irishman Jonathan Rea joined Kawasaki Racing Team from Honda. In his first season on the Ninja ZX-10R he won the riders’ championship, Kawasaki’s third after Russell and Sykes. It started a run without precedent in the series: Rea retained the title in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, always with the Provec team and the green bike. At the same time KRT won the teams’ championship in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, four years in a row.

Wins and records

The Rea years produced figures that stand in the championship records. In 2017, at Donington Park, Kawasaki reached its 100th win in the Superbike World Championship, taken by Rea himself. A year later, in 2018, the Northern Irishman won race one at Brno and broke the all-time record of 60 wins in the class, previously held by Carl Fogarty. KRT ended that 2018 season with a fourth consecutive teams’ title, and in 2022 Kawasaki passed 500 podiums in the series.

Rea’s sixth title

The 2020 season, run on a shortened calendar, ended with another championship for Rea and the Provec team. The Northern Irishman sealed the title at the Estoril circuit in Portugal in October 2020, completing a sixth consecutive Superbike world title with Kawasaki Racing Team between 2015 and 2020.