Moto2: Lowes tops second day of official test

British racer Sam Lowes has topped the second day of Moto2 action at the final pre-season test in Jerez for the class, finishing the day alongside teammate Iker Lecuona to give the Swiss Innovative Investors KTM squad a one-two on the timesheets after two days of testing action.

And, with the times coming at the culmination of a strong testing program and with rider, team and bike gelling well, he says that they’re already ready to not only go racing but to deal with whatever the season throws at them.

“It was a really positive day, but all the tests have been. We’ve had a lot of parts to test, bringing my experience with Kalex and Speed Up as well as MotoGP to the team as well as getting myself comfy again.

“Today we put everything we’ve tried together and made it my bike and I felt good right away. I’m fast on old tyres and on new ones, and did a 41.9 lap on 23-lap old tyres and 41.8 on a new tyre! We’re using a full tank of fuel every time we put a tyre in and really concentrating on racing.

“The weather looks a bit crap for tomorrow so we’ll wait and see, but I’m happy to go to Qatar now, especially after so many days riding round and round Jerez! But the team’s great and the bike is great and it’s nice to have been able to test so much for the bad weekends, because it means we’ve tested that much I have info on what works and what doesn’t now. That’s experience I’ve brought back from MotoGP, because last time I just wanted to be fast all the time, and working on understanding everything and going forward from it will be something we can really use come the races.”

Fellow KTM rider Brad Binder was third, ahead of yesterday’s fastest man Francesco Bagnaia with Xavi Vierge, Alex Marquez, rookie Romano Fenati, the second Red Bull KTM of Miguel Oliveira, Mattia Pasini and Luca Marini rounding out the top ten. The class’s other Brit Danny Kent was 14^th on the Speed Up machine.