MotoGP: Lowes shows improvements despite crashing out

Sam Lowes has come away from this weekend’s San Marino Grand Prix pleased with his progress on the Aprilia RS-GP despite crashing out of the race, after showing that he’s more than capable of running top ten pace in wet conditions on the machine.

Losing out while inside the top ten and looking to keep moving forward despite starting 23^rd on the grid, he admitted afterwards that it was a bittersweet day for him at the Italian manufacturer’s home race.

“I’m not happy with the end result, but I had a battle, I came through the field and I showed what I can do. I felt competitive and my pace wasn’t far off where I needed to be. We just overheated the tyre a bit, but it’s all experience for me in my first fully wet race on a MotoGP bike. It’s a lot different from Moto2 and there are a lot of positives to take from it.

“I can’t be pleased about how the race ended, but on the track I was able to be competitive. I battled, overtook, maintained a good pace and the RS-GP worked brilliantly on the wet track. When the amount of water on the track began to go down, the front didn’t give me the same confidence. I tried to slow down too, but I wasn’t able to avoid the crash. Despite the result, the race is still incentive to give me confidence that I hope to take advantage of in Aragón where I won my last race in Moto2.”

And the day ended up doubly disappointing for the team when teammate Aleix Espargaró also crashed out of the race, admitting that he too came a cropper in the difficult conditions of Sunday’s race.

“The conditions were truly difficult. In warm up I did not feel good, but we made a few important changes to the RS-GP and in the early part of the race the feeling was decidedly better. Then I began to have problems with the front tyre before the crash. It’s a shame because we have not been able to demonstrate our true potential for a few races now. I am disappointed, but I have not lost my spirit or the desire to continue fighting.”