Sam Lowes: “I wish I’d been in GPs since I was 15”

It was a mixed year for Brits in the MotoGP paddock. MCN Sport asked four of our top riders for their verdicts. Now it’s the turn of Sam Lowes

hat’s the biggest difference between Moto2 and World Supersport?
The level of the riders. You’ve got ten guys on a very, very similar pace and you know it’s going to be close and hard to pass. You’ve got three or four guys in WSS, then a bit of a drop off to the second group, so it’s easy to pass them. In Moto2 everyone is fast. And on different weekends, different guys are quick. The last few years haven’t been as interesting as it was in the early days because now a lot of people are on the same bike, which works good and bad in the same way. So you know where people are weaker and stronger. In MotoGP the top three bikes all work differently and it’s producing great racing.

With the bikes being so similar, how much pressure is put on the rider?
Unless you’re at the front and have the pace, you’re riding fast but partly-aggressive, partly-protected in the first four laps. If you go wide, two bikes will pass you. But you need to go forward. The guy in front is a tenth slower, so it’s hard to pass if you don’t have race experience. That’s what I’ve improved on this year. Every pass needs to be tight and you need to lose the minimum amount of time.

How much of performance comes down to the rider and how much to the team?
I’d say 50 percent the rider, 40 percent the team and 10 percent the bike. The engine’s the same, the tyres are the same. The engines are fixed in the same place on the chassis. So the weight distribution can’t be that bad from one bike to the next. And if the team listens to you, and understand the data, and what you need to go fast, you can do it. That’s what I’ve not had. I’ve not had somebody following my direction and listening to me.

You’ve said you don’t need to be on a Kalex to win but you’re switching to Kalex next year. If it wasn’t for the Aprilia/Gresini link and promised MotoGP ride, would you have changed bikes?
The deal to go MotoGP came first with Aprilia. Then when we decided to stay in Moto2, the only real option was to go to Gresini. They’re a great team and I can’t wait to ride for them. But I didn’t decide I needed a Kalex to win next year, that was just the way it worked out. Given the fact that I’ve got a MotoGP bike for 2017, now I can go in next year and try and win.

How did the MotoGP opportunity come up? 
They want a young guy that’s going to give it everything, not always be saying, ‘I need this, I need that’. And I think the fact that I’ve done what I’ve done on the Speed Up helped show them I can work with my package. They pushed a lot for me, which is nice, and they know I’m going to give it everything every time I get on the bike. I’m not going to think, ‘I can’t beat him because he’s on a Yamaha’. I know that in Moto2 if I get the most from myself, and if I get 100 percent out of the Speed Up chassis every race, I can win.

In Moto2 everyone looks at Alex Rins as the next big star. What does he do better than you, and where do you gain?
When I follow him he’s stronger than me where all the Kalex riders are stronger than me. So I’m looking forward to next year to have a true comparison when we’re on the same bike. He’s a very methodical rider – smooth, and he works hard over the race weekend. He’s been at the front of any class he’s been in. All the hype about him is correct but I think the reason he’s done well as a rookie is helped by the package being good as well. The Pons team has worked so well over a weekend for the last few years and they make it happen on the Sunday. And that’s not what everyone does.

You were still working as an electrician until a few years ago. How big a difference would it have made to grow up in the GP paddock?
You’d know so much more if you came through here. This year has been good, but it could have been a lot better. I’ve worked hard and I’ve dug in, but I wish I’d been here since I was 15. But it’s so good to get the opportunities – people still haven’t seen what I can do yet. They’ve seen that I might be all right. But that’s it. I’ll try like fuck next year to try and win!

At the start of the year did it even cross your mind that you’d be getting a MotoGP chance for next year?
At the end of last year it definitely didn’t! But this year was really strong at the start. Since the start my bike’s been exactly the same apart from a small adjustment in the shock. All the others have improved but we’ve stayed the same. On the Kalex there’s been a few different things, though maybe Zarco’s isn’t too different because he’s on the old bike. I thought that I was good enough to get a chance to go to MotoGP at the start of the year, but a team needed to see the potential. Aprilia ended up giving me the opportunity because they know what I can do when everything’s right. And that’s nice.

Words Steve English  Photos G&G, Tony Goldsmith, Steve English