Alex Lowes has contracted fellow rider and friend Nico Canepa to be his riding coach and trackside spotter at WorldSBK races.
As well as improving the Pata Yamaha, Lowes is working hard on himself, trying to get the best out of his R1 by making improved rider inputs, and Canepa is watching trackside.
When told that Michael van der Mark had also found some benefit, Lowes joked: “I hope he is not helping Michael because I am paying him to help me!”
As Lowes explained more fully, “He was helping us both last year and at the tests, but at the races this year he is just going to be helping me. I have a good relationship with him and he has been out on track watching. I am trying to improve every way, even my riding. There are a few things, even with changing direction on the bike.
"I have had some bad habits in the past. I am trying to be a bit more efficient at that. On these tracks, with so many changes of direction it can help quite a lot. I have been working quite a lot on that today. I am still shit! But it is getting better. I am a bit older now so I can take a bit of criticism a lot easier and turn it into improving on the track. That is what I need to try and keep doing if I want to catch Johnny and the Kawasakis.
"If you watch, when we go to a new track how fast the Kawasakis are, not just Johnny but also Toprak and Leon, we have a bit of a job. I need to improve, as well as the guys, to try and close that. I feel that I have to ride better than them, and everything to be perfect, so we can challenge them every week.”