SMILEY LOWES ON SECOND ROW AFTER ASSEN QUALIFYING
A small morning setback at the beginning of FP3 did not affect Sam Lowes’s Saturday performance, as the Briton managed to get through Q1 with the third-quickest time before wrapping up qualifying with a fifth-place finish courtesy of a 1’36.855secs lap-time.
The standard bearer of Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2, who was among the elite group of riders able to lap under the 1’37secs barrier, can now aim at battling with the leaders in the race. In order to do so, tomorrow’s warm-up will be crucial in order to find a little improvement in the third split, which was his main issue in a day that was marked by very high track temperatures.
Moto2 action will resume tomorrow from 9:10 local time (GMT+2) with the last practice session (warm up), whereas the race will get underway at 12:20.
5th– SAM LOWES #22
“We didn’t get the start we wanted in the morning. The crash was my fault and surely we didn’t need it as things went really well until then. We basically lost 30 minutes of the session and despite going out on track in the last five minutes, we couldn’t get into Q2 straight away. We went out with used tyres in Q1 and it worked despite being a little bit of a gamble. Second row is OK and our pace is good, so we hope to wrap up this weekend with a strong race.”
