Lowes aiming for first GP win

After storming to pole position Sam Lowes was in no mood to downplay his goals for tonight’s Qatar Grand Prix with the Englishman confident that he can finish at least on the rostrum but he’s aiming to win.

Lowes pace throughout the weekend has been a step above Rabat and Zarco with the former World Supersport rider able to comfortably set fast times on older rubber but with the added experience of Rabat and Zarco he knows that can take nothing for granted.

“Today I made the best lap time after twelve laps with the tire, and the feeling is still quite good,” said Lowes. “For me the Dunlop Moto2 tire is really good for race distance. Also the competitors are really fast at the end, so I have to think about this. But to be honest I have no big problem with the drop in lap time, I feel quite fast, so for me hopefully not.

” The first six or seven laps are important because if there’s a group of us there’s a lot of guys that if they’re in the group they’ll stay in a group. I think that Rabat and Zarco are the only guys that can do 59’s, I’m not sure if the other guys can do that. But if we’re a bit slower they can do that and stay with us.”

Lowes has topped the times in all practice sessions but making the step to be able to run 20 laps at race winning pace will be a major challenge for him. Having crashed 25 times last year and struggled with the Speed Up chassis however the progress that he has made over the last year has been impressive but racing with Rabat and Zarco will be a new challenge.

“One way to look at it is that guys like Rabat and Zarco don’t know what to expect from me but I also don’t know what to expect from them! I’ve seen them ride a lot and they’re good riders but they’re maybe not the most aggressive…they’ve not seen me ride and I’m not scarred! I’d be super happy with a podium from this weekend but I’ve the pace to win. Whether I can do that I don’t know but that’s the goal.”