Lowes fastest and looking to make next step

Sam Lowes has made a strong start to his Italian Grand Prix weekend by leading the times after opening practice at Mugello. The Speed Up rider was 0.005s faster than Thomas Luthi with Tito Rabat keeping a watching brief in third.

Lowes spoke with MCN yesterday about the importance of this weekend and starting it strong. At Le Mans he felt he had one of the most consistent races of his career with a string of fast times in the race but having lost ground in the early laps he could only match the pace of the leaders and not catch them.

Having been a front row starter at Mugello last year Lowes commented that he loved the challenge of the track but that the biggest thing for him for this weekend was to get back to winning ways in Italy. This is a pivotal weekend for Lowes with Zarco having been fast all year, Rabat back on the pace and Luthi looking strong. The title battle is starting to gain momentum and Lowes needs to make sure that over the next three races that he remains in the thick of things.