Source: Kawasaki Racing.

Kawasaki will field a factory EVO entry in the 2014 eni FIM Superbike World Championship with Spaniard David Salom.

Salom will ride for the official Provec-run team alongside world champion Tom Sykes and Loris Baz aboard an EVO-spec ZX-10R, the agreement confirmed today by Kawasaki in preparation for 2015 when the entire field switches to EVO.

“As many press outlets have been reporting David Salom has been track testing, since last November, an EVO specification Ninja ZX-10R during KRT private tests,” Kawasaki team manager Guim Roda commented.

“This has been part of developing program by KHI and KRT to prepare for the 2014 season with this kind of bike. KHI has now confirmed that the project will go ahead and David Salom will be the rider. It is a project for one year, preparing for the 2015 season in the best way possible.

“It will be an opportunity to develop the bike to maximise the good level of performance the Ninja ZX-10R already has as part of its overall design. All KRT staff will be involved in this project, so for sure it will be a third KRT bike on the grid, pushing the full SBK class ones.”

Salom is grateful for the opportunity to ride for the factory Kawasaki team, focused on developing the package for next season.

“I am very happy with this opportunity because it is a very good project and a very good team,” Salom said. “Helping with the developing the bike is very important for me and the main part of my job is to prepare for 2015 when everyone will be riding on an EVO bike.

“I am not sure what we can achieve in terms of race results this year but we have tested the bike at Motorland Aragon, Jerez and Almeria and the lap times have been very good. I think we can fight at the front of the EVO class, but even more important is the positive development of the machine.

“The Kawasaki is a very good bike to start with in the EVO class, as all aspects of it work well. We have not changed many parts so far but we have still posted fast lap times.”

Salom will test again alongside Sykes and Baz at Jerez on 5-6 February, before taking part in the final tests of the pre-season at Phillip Island on 17-18 February.