Podium Joy For Resolute Lowes At Termas De Rio Hondo
The Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 and Sam Lowes took their first podium finish of the season in today’s Grand Prix of Argentina at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, crossing the finish line in second position.
Started from pole position, Lowes rode a determined race: the 25-year-old British rider took the lead on the third lap and set the pace for 10 laps, before Frenchman Johann Zarco passed him. Sam continued to follow closely the reigning World Champion, then a slight mistake with 5 laps to go didn’t prevent him to get back quickly in second place with a nice pass on Franco Morbidelli, but the ground lost no longer allowed him to launch the final attack to Zarco for the win.
Thanks to the 20 points obtained in Argentina, Lowes is now third overall in the Championship, only 7 points behind Thomas Luthi, the winner in Qatar, and 2 points behind Johann Zarco.
SAM LOWES (2nd)
“The conditions were not easy today, but I had a good pace so I was expecting to do a strong race today. I was in the lead for several laps and it’s definitely a nice feeling, then with 5 laps to go I made a small mistake that made me lose contact with Zarco and therefore I didn’t had the opportunity to attack him in the final laps. After the mistake however I was fast and I managed to quickly pass Morbidelli in front of me, so I’m satisfied. I’m happy with this start to the season: I had the pace to win also in Qatar and the Championship, despite the Jump Start at Losail, is already looking quite good, because I’m only 7 points off the lead. We are working hard and the team is doing a great job, the bike has been good on all the tracks I’ve been riding this year and also this morning and I felt really good in the wet. The goal this year is to fight for the title, even if we know that it won’t be easy to beat reigning champion Zarco, but we’ll try. It’s going to be a good season”.
FAUSTO GRESINI
“Lowes rode a great race: after the pole position and this morning’s Warm Up, in which Sam was fast also in the wet, we expected to be able to do well today. We also knew that it would be hard to beat Zarco, who was really strong here. We can say that our chances of beat him finished when Sam made a little mistake in the final stages of the race, otherwise he would surely have tried to attack him in the closing laps. Anyway that’s okay: today it was important to recover heavy points in the Championship after the Jump Start of Qatar and we did so, leveling the situation in the overall standings. I’m really happy for this podium”.
