Will be based on the existing platform.
In an interview with Speedweek, Kawasaki's WSBK team manager, Guim Roda, has said that the team will race a new bike in the 2016 season. So in order to compete with the new super bike, Kawasaki will have to develop a production-spec model, followed by testing and homologation ahead of the next season.
Given that World Superbike updated their rulebook for a stricter set of changes to be made on the production-spec model, competing brands will have to develop faster bikes right from the start of its development, rather than saving extensive and expensive factory team developments for the race bike.
This could mean that the next generation 2016 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R could be even more race-ready in stock trim. The current ZX-10R develops 200 PS from a 998cc inline four-cylinder engine paired to a 6-speed transmission. Roda has divulged that Kawasaki will not build a new bike from scratch, but will improve the existing platform in terms of chassis, swingarm, engine and electronics.
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Rivals like BMW Motorrad and Yamaha have already met the new rules by updating the S1000RR and R1, respectively, to race-ready levels, whereas Ducati already has the Panigale R as their homologation bike for WSBK, while further extending the road superbike range with the 1299 Panigale and 1299 Panigale S.
[Source: Speedweek]
