Moto2: Lowes left suffering with grip issues in Assen

Sam Lowes has admitted that he was lucky to get away with fourth place and 13 valuable championship points in Sunday’s Moto2 race at Assen, after struggling with grip issues all the way through the race.

“It was a difficult race today: I expected to be stronger, but actually we had some issues. I suffered a lack of grip and I was also losing the front end sometimes. Probably the track conditions have changed because of the rain that fell before the race and we were a bit unlucky, because yesterday the bike was good with this setting.”

But he was also unlucky to not finish higher up the pecking order after finally finding his pace in the closing stages of the race – only for rain and red flags to bring a premature end to the fight.

“However, I was able to recover well in the final stages of the race: I was able to be fast when the other riders started to drop off and I think that without the interruption for rain we could fight for the podium. We will keep working and we will come back stronger: we are just 5 points off the Championship lead, so now we look forward to Sachsenring!”

The former World Supersport champion has a big week ahead, though, as he heads to Misano to make his debut on the Aprilia RS-GP bike that he will ride next season. Testing Wednesday and Thursday, it will be his first experience of both the MotoGP machine and Michelin tyres.