Welcome to the beta version of the new Women & Golf website. Our web monkeys are still hard at work and welcome your feedback.  

Advertisement

MotoGP Portimao: 'The team’s given me a great package in all circumstances’ - Lowes

Elf Marc VDS rider Sam Lowes maintained his perfect 2021 pole record at Portimao by powering to the Moto2 top spot for the third successive time this afternoon. 

Easing into Q2 with the fourth quickest time of FP3, a 1’42.939, Lowes was back to his best at a track he adores, producing yet another masterful display to secure his third pole in as many races and 14th of his Moto2 career so far.

His session-topping 1’42.901 pace, despite a late crash at turn 11, leaves Lowes firmly on course to be the first rider in 20 years to win the opening three intermediate class World Championship races since Daijiro Kato did in the 250cc class back in 2001 - the 30-year-old already matching Barry Sheene as the first British rider to start from pole in three consecutive races, in any GP class, since the Londoner in 1975. 

Advertisement

“I’m really happy with this pole position” said Lowes from Parc Ferme “because this weekend has been more difficult than the first two races in Qatar. 

“We’ve had to work hard for this result. I’ve got to say a big thanks to the team because we have worked hard to be well prepared for the race by doing a lot of laps with a full fuel tank on worn tyres. Then we went out in Q2 with low fuel and new tyres and the feeling was incredible, so in all circumstances the team have given me a great package. Our race pace is good and I’m expecting a hard battle but I’m confident we can keep this great start to the season going.

“Conditions were a little bit different from this morning, but yesterday I think the grip was down in general, the lap times were not so fast. Today it was a little more similar to last year, lap times were similar and this afternoon, due maybe to a little bit of temperature, a little bit of wind, the times were a little bit slower, but I felt good. We improved the bike a lot over the weekend, we could make a nice rhythm so I’m really happy with the work we've done and I’m looking forward to the race.”

Discussing his late-session crash at the crown of turn 11, the Brit admitted “I probably knew it was going to happen five-seconds before, so if it was a race or a practice I could have run a little bit wide and not tried to carry on the lap but I just got it a little bit wrong on the entry, arrived a bit quicker and still tried to make the corner, given that it was qualifying. I'd done a ’42.9, and I expected maybe some of the guys to improve so it's normal when you push like that in qualifying, I was a little bit offline, the track improved a lot today, on the line the grip was good but a little bit offline it’s still a bit lacking but just a small mistake, get it out of the way so we can enjoy tomorrow!

“I think there's a lot of guys that will fight[ for the championship], it's only the third race but [Doha] was a great race for me. The conditions were difficult, especially in the third and fourth sector, with the wind, it was difficult to stay consistent and a tiny bit easier to follow so I felt a lot of pressure, but I work hard like that. I worked hard all winter to try and keep the rhythm, do all my laps alone so when you get in the front of the race, it doesn't feel anything out of the normal. It was nice, it's probably one of my better wins, to backup the one from the week before, but however they come, I'll take them all!” Lowes concluded. 

Articles you may like

Advertisement

More MotoGP

Advertisement
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram