Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Sam Lowes reckons he is heading in the right direction following a positive three-day test at the Sepang International Circuit.
The British rider, who’ll make his premier class debut this season having spent the last three years in Moto2, spent the test acclimatising to MotoGP machinery by putting miles on last year’s RS-GP. Lowes completed 141 laps of the 5.5km Malaysian circuit across the three days, making a marked improvement in each session.
While getting used to the nuances of the bike, Lowes was able to conduct a race simulation on the final day. Though finding it a rather tough endeavour in the crippling heat of Malaysia, the former World Supersport champion was nonetheless happy with his performance.
Lowes made a huge gain in laptime of over one and a half seconds over the three days. His best effort was a 2m01.341s, putting him 22nd and just under two seconds off the pace of test leader Maverick Vinales on the factory Yamaha. Somewhat more encouragingly, he was only 0.003s off of compatriot Bradley Smith and a couple of tenths quicker than his KTM team-mate Pol Espargaro.
With two more tests to go before the first race of the season in Qatar at the end of next month, Lowes is certain that, should he continue to improve the way he has done so far, he will be ready for his MotoGP debut.
“Over the three days we reduced the gap behind the leaders significantly and that is important,” said Lowes.
“We are working in the right direction. Everything is new for me, so I learn something new every lap! Among other things, I also did a race simulation, discovering how mentally and physically demanding it is to ride a MotoGP bike here at Sepang, but I am pleased with how it went. These tests were fundamental for me.
“We did not focus on our final position because that is certainly not our goal. We still have six days of testing before the race in Qatar and I think that if we maintain these levels of growth and concentration we will be ready.”
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