Lowes: 'I didn't think I'd get chance to race in MotoGP'

Alex Lowes has said he plans to enjoy his time deputising for Bradley Smith in the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha squad at Silverstone this weekend as two years ago he didn’t think he’d ever get the chance to race at Grand Prix level.

The Yamaha WSB star will stand in for the injured Bradley Smith at the Silverstone and Misano rounds, making his GP debut after a brief but promising test at Brno two weeks’ ago.

“I’m a bit nervous, a bit excited,” he told journalists at Silverstone. “I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m riding a MotoGP bike at Silverstone so I’m definitely looking forward to it!  The MotoGP bike is a lot different to the Superbike and it’s not normal to turn up to your first Grand Prix with just 12 laps on the bike! I felt good with the few laps I got so we’ll see but I did such a few amount of laps I didn’t really understand a lot.”

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“I don’t think I need to change the bike if you look at the other guys on it they are the best guys in the world so I’d be stupid to think I know better. I’ll keep the bike the same and ride, I just need to ride and understand as no matter how fast I go this weekend the bike will be faster than me so I just need to do a lot of laps, try and understand how to ride the bike as for sure there are going to be some differences. Hopefully over the weekend I will get faster and I can be half decent on Sunday!”

With two weekends on the bike, the Briton is hoping he can make an impression while also taking a sensible approach to his Grand Prix debut with his focus on trying to walk before he can run.

“I don’t want to get annoyed if I’m being slow at the start, I want to learn from everyone and try and improve. I’m confident in my speed, I know I can ride a bike fast. A few years ago I was racing in British Superbike and happy to move to World Superbikes, I didn’t think I’d be racing in MotoGP so I need to enjoy it because if I don’t I think it’s something I’ll regret when I’m older.

“I’ve got a couple of weekends on the bike, by the end of Misano I really, really want to be as close to Pol as possible. We rode the same bike at Suzuka and were pretty evenly matched so I don’t think that’s an unrealistic goal.” 

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