Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes believes the key to more WorldSBK podium success is a combination of himself and more corner-exit grip on the R1.

The Derby-based youngster took his first rostrum for the team at Donington when he raced from dead last to pass Marco Melandri on the run to the last corner and says that with a couple of improvements, he can be there again more consistently in the second half of this season.

“Closing the gap to the top guys in WorldSBK is no easy task, we need a combination of things to take that step forward. Obviously, some of it has to come from me, so I need to keep trying to improve myself, but also, we need to get a little bit more out of the bike, especially on corner exit,” said Lowes.

“If we can improve that, it will make everything else a little bit easier, so that is an area we are really trying to focus on in the summer break and moving forward for the rest of the year. It has been a pretty strong start to the year, we managed to pick up two podiums but we struggled a little bit at the last round in Laguna Seca.

“In general, it has been pretty positive, there have still been too many ups and downs, and it has not been as consistent as I would have liked but I feel like I have made a step forward with my riding and we just need to take that next step to be consistently challenging for podiums in the second half of the season."