A strong wind dominated the second day of Moto2 testing for Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Sam Lowes and Augusto Fernandez in Qatar today.

• Conditions didn’t impact on lap times and Lowes and Fernandez focused on improving their race pace rather than pursuing a fast lap.
• Lowes ended proceedings in ninth position with Fernandez three places further back and the pair are now ready to complete their crucial pre-season preparations in the final testing action of 2021 tomorrow.

/// AUGUSTO FERNANDEZ: 12^th, 1:59.468, 32 laps

• A 10-lap stint in the second session left Fernandez narrowly outside of the top 10 in 12^th position with a best time of 2:01.402.
• The Spanish rider was comfortably lapping consistently inside the top 10 again in the final outing of the day and he was able to improve his time by 0.5s compared to last night.
• A flurry of late time attack runs pushed Fernandez back into 12^th place for the second session in a row, but the 23-year-old was satisfied with the work he completed assessing his pace on worn tyres with a full fuel tank.

“I feel we’ve made good progress with the front”

“Today was positive for me again. It was quite windy at times, which made it difficult to push and draw any accurate conclusions. In that situation it is easy to get confused with the setting but in the final session we concentrated more on the front again. I’m still missing the ideal feeling I’d like, but I feel we’ve made some good progress in that area.”

/// SAM LOWES: 9^th, 1:59.211, 30 laps

• Lowes completed a short run of nine laps during the second session and got his time down to a 2:00.884, which was less than 0.2s away from the top spot.
• Under the famous Losail floodlights for the final session, Lowes wasted no time in asserting his authority and a lap of 1:59.211 quickly moved him to the top of the timesheets.
• That time was over 0.3s faster than his best pace set on the opening day and Lowes eventually placed ninth on the combined standings on yet another positive day for the Briton.

“I’m really happy with the step we made today”

“Today was another good day and I’m really happy with the step we made compared to yesterday. The team did a great job giving me the same feeling that I had on the bike at the end of last year when I was really strong. I was very fast on used tyres and the final result could have been better, but unfortunately I crashed when I went out on a new set of tyres. That prevented me from showing my true potential, but I’m excited for tomorrow with the pace I’ve already shown.”