Mixed fortunes for Lowes on opening day in Misano
Elf Marc VDS Racing Team rider Sam Lowes had a positive start but tricky ending to a scorching hot day one at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Italy today
Lowes was comfortably inside the top 10 at the end play in this morning’s FP1 session and looking forward to a strong display this afternoon but technical issues halted hopes of progress.
Baking hot conditions are expected to continue throughout the weekend and Lowes is back on track tomorrow for the Superpole session at 11am local time ahead of Race 1 that is due for lights out three hours later.
/// SAM LOWES: 13th, 1:33.910, 14 LAPS
Air temperature was already close to 30 degrees when Lowes ventured out on track for FP1 at 1035am this morning and the Briton was the second fastest Independent Team rider and eighth overall.
Lowes fired in a best lap of 1.33.910 on the 13th lap of 14 he completed and was only 0.4s away from the top four.
Temperatures topped a sizzling 30 degrees this afternoon and Lowes was confident he could close the gap to the top three only to experience a frustrating FP2 session.
Despite the best efforts of the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team to get him into the action, a persistent technical issue meant Lowes was unable to set a lap time this afternoon.
With Lowes unable to improve on this morning’s 1:33.910, he ended the opening day of the Emilia Romagna round in 13th position on the combined standings.
“I’m sure we can still be strong in Race 1”
“It hasn’t been the best day for us here in Misano. It shows how important it was for us to be at the test here last month with the track time we lost today, so at least we have some data and a base setting to work with. We tried a few things in FP1 this morning but then we had an issue in the last 15 minutes that cost me some track time. And then my crew could not have worked harder to solve our issues this afternoon but unfortunately we didn’t get to set a lap time. I know they are going to be working hard tonight to find some solutions and I can’t thank them enough for the effort they put in today. It’s a pity we lost pretty much the whole of FP2 because the conditions were a lot hotter than we had at the test and it would have been valuable to have got some experience when the track is so hot. But I’m sure with a smooth run in FP3 and Superpole tomorrow we can look forward to being competitive in Race 1.”