Britain’s Sam Lowes pushed through the pain of his injured shoulder to finish the day’s Moto2 practices a little over a second off the pace.
Lowes has had very little in the way of pre-season testing, missing both the official Jerez and Qatar tests, but managed to take his EG0,0 Kalex to 20th on the timesheet which was 1.140s behind fastest man Joe Roberts.
“It has been a tough time with the injury and it is not easy to miss testing and watch everybody else ride,” said Lowes.
“I was unlucky to get a big injury from a very small crash and it has been a difficult period but I saw Augusto do a very good job at the test and that meant the team had a strong base to work with. I want to say thanks to him and the team and I feel good.
“I was nervous this morning because I didn’t know what was possible. I might have had to stop after just one lap, so I’m proud of myself and the team with the job we did today. I think we can improve and make another step forward tomorrow.”
Riding in considerable pain and coping with a lack of strength and mobility, Lowes completed 12 laps around the physically demanding 5.4km layout in FP1 and a further 12 laps in FP2, upping his pace by 1.5s.
