Alex Lowes excited but nervous ahead of GP debut

World Superbike rider Alex Lowes is excited but nervous ahead of his debut MotoGP race this weekend at Silverstone.

The Briton, who is deputising for Bradley Smith this weekend after the Smith suffered a crash whilst on endurance duty for Yamaha, is happy to be given a chance to ride the MotoGP machine, but also knows he may be in for a difficult time.

“I feel quite good. It’s a strange sensation because everything happened really quick so. I’m a bit nervous, a bit excited a bit I don’t know what to expect, I’m riding a MotoGP bike at Silverstone so obviously I’m just looking forward to it and we’ll wait and see what happens,” Lowes told Read Motorsport at Silverstone.

Lowes had a test at Brno after winning the Suzuka 8 hour race. The Yamaha World Superbike rider admitted he never expected to be racing here at Silverstone, but was delighted to be given the opportunity.

“(Silverstone) is a place that I’ve always gone quite well at. Obviously, I’ve not quite had the same level of competition as I’ve got now but it’s a track I really enjoy. It’s going to be really really interesting for me because I’ve done a few laps on the bike last week but there are so many things that are new to me.

“The MotoGP bike is a lot different to the Superbike. It’s not normal that you turn up to your first Grand Prix with 10, 12 laps on the bike I don’t know if anyone has turned up with that little experience before.”