Britain’s Sam Lowes yesterday finished his third set of tests on the Aprilia RS-GP MotoGP he will campaign in the premier class next year and says the laptime gap to Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista is ‘not bad at all’.

Lowes put in 135 laps at Misano alongside the team regulars and test rider Mike Di Meglio. After spending some time adjusting from the Gresini Moto2, Lowes believes the potential is high for next season.

“For me this was a very good test, because we got to the point of also starting to do some tests, beyond simply getting to know the Aprilia RS-GP. For me it is never easy to get off the Moto2 bike and get on the MotoGP machine,” he said.

“The first day I tend to take some less than perfect lines for the way these bikes should be ridden, but the second day, even looking at the data, I get close to the style of the other riders. At the end of the day the gap is not bad at all. The potential of the bike is definitely high and I am more and more happy to be part of this project.”