Fantastic fourth for Lowes at packed home GP
Sam Lowes was applauded by the 67,000 fans in attendance at Silverstone for his fighting fourth place at home, while Augusto Fernandez continued his excellent run by coming home sixth.
- With a revised schedule for the first British Grand Prix since 2019, the Moto2 affair was the third race of the day, starting at 14.30 local time and held over 18 laps of the historic 5.9km Silverstone circuit.
- A bumper crowd of 67,000 people were in attendance to cheer on home hero Sam Lowes. The Brit gave his all in a thrilling four-rider fight for victory, with Augusto Fernandez sixth in another strong day for the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team.
/// AUGUSTO FERNANDEZ, 6th
- Having made changes to his set-up before and after morning warm-up, Augusto maintained position in the race’s first half, holding onto seventh place, the position in which he qualified.
- Soon, the 23-year old was making progress. On lap seven he passed Raul Fernandez for sixth, then Fabio Di Giannantonio for fifth on lap 16. Despite losing fifth on the final lap, he came home just 7s behind the winner. This was Augusto’s seventh top six finish of the year
- The ten points gained today solidify Augusto’s sixth place in the world championship with 92 points to his name, the same number as Aron Canet in fifth.
“I was really fast, but too on the limit”
“Honestly it was a hard race. We expected more. We got lost with the set-up a bit in FP3 and then we were paying for that bad session. In qualifying we made a step, and in warm-up another. But the last change we made before the race wasn’t the correct one. I was struggling. I did a really fast, consistent race without any mistakes. I lost a little bit of time in the first laps but apart from this I was really fast, but too on the limit. Anyway, P6, we keep scoring good points for the championship and I’m already thinking about coming back stronger for Aragon!”
/// SAM LOWES, 4th
- Starting from third on the grid, Sam shrugged off a crash in morning warm-up to start aggressively, brilliantly taking the lead from Marco Bezzecchi in the Maggotts-Becketts complex.
- By the fourth lap, Lowes was shuffled back to third but was always part of an excellent four-rider battle for the lead. Despite setting his best time on the 13th lap, the Briton just missed out on a podium, finishing fourth, 2.2s behind winner Remy Gardner.
- Lowes continues to sit fourth in the world championship with 127 points, 52 back of Bezzecchi in third.
“I fought all the way to the end”
“To finish fourth is never the best position, especially at my home race. But it was a really good ride. I fought all the way to the end, improving my pace from practice in the race. I’m happy with the way I rode but obviously disappointed with fourth. I want to say a massive thank you to the fans for the great support. They made me feel so good on the in-lap and their support has been incredible. There will be more British Grand Prix and I hope to get a win here in the future. I want to say thanks to the team. They did a great job improving the bike all weekend long. I was just missing a little something in certain parts of the tracks, where I need to improve my riding. We got some solid points and we’re looking forward to Aragon, one of my favourite tracks, in two weeks’ time.”