Britain’s Sam Lowes slumped to a 20th place finish in today’s Moto2 race at the Jerez MotoGP round after a problem with his rear tyre left the Derby-based twin with an ‘unrideable’ bike.

Lowes had been at the sharp end all weekend and had the pace to run with the leaders but a total lack of rear traction meant he slipped down the order and out of the points while title rival Jonas Folder took the win.

“I don’t want to point fingers. I came in just now and looked at the pace of the leaders, and I have done that pace every single session all weekend. Maybe I have not been first but the consistency has been good,” said Lowes, speaking at Jerez.

“In warm up I was really consistent and then in the race we had a problem with the tyre, it was impossible to ride the bike. I am three seconds a lap slower than I could go. I stayed on the track because you never know but it was pointless. I couldn’t ride it, I was just sat on it.

“I am really upset because I have had lots of mistakes in my career and we didn’t need this because I didn’t do anything wrong. When you don’t have the grip, you don’t have the grip. It is frustrating. I’m not trying to blame Dunlop as I have never had an issue before, every tyre I have put on the bike has been fantastic. Maybe I should have known on the siting lap, but you don’t go that fast.”

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