EXCLUSIVE: Sam Lowes - Q&A

Sam Lowes was frustrated at missing the Moto2 podium at Mugello on Sunday and said he won't be happy until he stands on the top step once again.

The Englishman felt in good shape going into Sunday's race, having taken his second pole position in the class a day before. Morning warm-up confirmed his pace but again the slightly higher lunchtime track temperatures lost him the edge in terms of race performance.

An early collision with Simone Corsi lost him vital time and Lowes subsequently could only climb as high as fourth after coming within 0.2s of standing on a grand prix podium for the third time.

Still, a two-day test in Aragon later in the week should give the Speed Up crew ample time to experiment with the aluminium swingarm - new for this year - something they were unable to do in the weather-afflicted preseason.

Crash.net spoke with Lowes after the race about the early incident with Corsi, where the Speed Up chassis is losing out and his hopes going to Barcelona.

Crash.net:
That was another strong, mature showing. But I guess considering you were on pole position you're not happy?

Sam Lowes:
It was a bad race to be honest. The pace in the middle wasn't too bad but the pace for everybody was really slow. I was surprised. It must have been the grip. It was really down. The incident with Corsi didn't help when I nearly ran off track. It was a racing incident but he went straight to the apex. I don't know where he thought I was. Where he expected me to be, I don't know.

He had only just passed me. If you look at the analysis he was in front of me over the line. The line isn't that far from the first corner. When you pass me on the left hand side into there what do you expect. It's one of them things. If he had just left me a little bit of room I would have been alright. He never does that, he's that sort of rider so I'm not sorry for that. Fuck it. Racing incident. He hit me in the first corner in Argentina, massive moment and we both could have gone down. What goes around comes around in my opinion. I couldn't stop that. That was a racing incident and they [race direction] told me the same.

Crash.net:
That incident was fairly costly in terms of time and track position. How many seconds did you lose on the leaders?

Sam Lowes:
2.8. I went back to eleventh then went back to tenth for a lap. In the middle of the race I had the same pace as Rabat. It was very close. I would have been there. We just struggled a bit, the track temperature went up and everyone was the same. In that instance we struggle more. Speed Up genuinely struggles more when it's hot and there's less grip. It wasn't that bad. I'd have liked to have salvaged third, which I nearly did on the last lap. One more lap and I'd have had it. You can't give that gap to these guys. We're just getting to the stage where we're there. It was still hard to catch up because the pace was slower for everybody.

We need to work so much in the hot temperatures. I need to work on my style a little bit. We're there now so we can do that. Before I was so up and down you can't. We've done so little in these conditions with this swingarm that it's no surprise. All the Kalex riders have so much information and there are so many guys. For me we're doing a mega job. I think we've got a lot of room for improvement. We've got a test this week in Aragon. Hopefully we can have a good test there and then be on it in Barcelona and Assen.

Crash.net:
Had it not been for the early incident do you feel you could have pushed Rabat and Zarco?

Sam Lowes:
I'm not saying I would have won today because they had better pace than me at the end but easily I'd have been third. Third would have been nice because we've worked well all weekend. Pole position is good but just because you qualify pole doesn't mean you're going to win. I've been top-three every session and that's what we would have done in the race. I did a really good lap in qualifying. A third would have been acceptable. Fourth by 0.2/3s, that mistake at the start - it's not that bad. It's not an absolute disaster. I'm not going to be happy until I'm back on the top step again.

Crash.net:
Do you feel it shows how far you have come this year that you're saying third place would have been 'acceptable'?

Sam Lowes:
In Le Mans we struggled more. It wasn't a better result but in the race it was quite a solid ride. Here, we made a mistake and got put into fourth. In Le Mans we never had that. That was my pace. Here if I was third I would have been with them so we've got potential. We need to keep working. Of course, there's only limited bikes and data but we do struggle a bit in changeable conditions. With the race being after twelve o'clock we need to figure that out. Obviously we're out in the morning and then in the afternoon but it wasn't as hot yesterday. Friday was a bit hotter but I was on a soft tyre. In the race I was on the hard, the same as everyone. Today the goal was to put in the same tyre as everyone else after Le Mans but I think with our chassis we could have gone soft but I'm not going to get into that now. We are normally (suited to the) softer but Le Mans stumped us a bit. We went softer and it wasn't better.

It's not a disaster. I'm happy to be getting all this experience and finishing the races. I weren't fourth best today and should have finished on the podium. I had that tip off yesterday but now in four races I've had one tip off. In the same session I put it on pole. It's been a good few races and this is a hard class with a lot of experienced riders and teams. We need to improve together.

They've [the team] made some calls as have I but I'm inexperienced. They're not. We need to come together more, not just your bike but your team as well. That's where the strongest package is, that's where you find it. Today the track temperature was 46 [degrees] in the race, qualifying was 35. That's enough of a difference to be different. This morning was 26 and I did a 1m 52.0s on the hard tyre. The best lap of the race was a 52.5s. It happened to everybody but we struggled a little bit more with it. I think I was closer than normal in them conditions. Look at Jerez, I was maybe more off. We're getting there. We just need that one thing and we'll be there.

Crash.net:
As the end of the race approached you were gaining on Dominque Aegerter one lap, then you'd lose time on him the next. What was happening?

Sam Lowes:
I had some massive moments with the rear grip, especially up through Arrabbiata 1 and 2. The problem I had near the end of the race was the first touch of gas. I was getting closer to him and pushing and trying to get on the gas earlier. Not earlier, I was having to push without pushing [over the limit] because the bike wasn't letting me ride how I wanted to. On the last lap I went wide at turn one but I was close. I gave it everything and if we keep doing that we'll be there in the end.

Crash.net:
In Le Mans you said one area where the Kalexes have an advantage is they are always fast out of the box on Friday. Yet this weekend you were inside the top-three in FP1 and FP2. Is that another cause for optimism?

Sam Lowes:
Honestly, I was set up so well for this race, I thought. I definitely don't want to make excuses but we got caught out a tiny bit. Given the data, experience and confidence they [Kalex runners] have with their packages they knew how to put the bike in the right place for the race.

Whereas we weren't guessing but we didn't make any changes from the cooler conditions. They would have done. With a bit more experience and information with the package we've got that would have helped us just that little bit. In this class that's everything. From lap six-seven I was the same as Rabat. When I came back on laps two, three and four I was passing people. At the moment we need to be more confident with our package, understand a bit more. We only used the aluminium swingarm for three days during [preseason] testing and then we went to the first race.

Qatar's at night - perfect conditions for me. It's a cool track, I made a stupid mistake and should have won. I was fastest all weekend, easily. American, overcast all weekend. Not hot. Track temperature was I think 31 in the race. Argentina got a bit hotter, it wasn't too bad in the race because it was overcast. We struggled a little bit. In Jerez we struggled but we were alright until we got that tyre. Le Mans was cold and we weren't too far away. I chose the wrong tyre but it got hotter again for the race. We need to be more clever and understand more. The way our sessions work...if it had been cloudy all morning it wouldn't have been that hot by twelve. That's what happened in the first two days. We can keep working, it's those little bits but in grand prix racing those little bits win you the races. If you have a perfect race you can win. Even guys like Rabat, Zarco... if they don't they don't win.

Crash.net:
Luthi and Folger both crashed out of the race while Rins had another difficult day. Are you looking at Zarco and Rabat now as your main title challengers?

Sam Lowes:
Zarco's done mega. He's finished every race. I need to start winning in the next few races. Rabat's got the number one on his bike. He's in the best team. For me that's more [important] than the chassis. They know so much, they've got so much data.

Crash.net:
And they tested after Jerez too...

Sam Lowes:
Yeah, they've done a couple of tests. I think they're testing with us this week with Folger.

Crash.net:
Will you be testing for two days?

Sam Lowes:
Thursday and Friday at Aragon. We're nearly there. I think that if you look back at what we've got it's impossible for me to get the most out of it because we haven't done any testing with it. I had a new link in on Friday, a completely new link in and I raced it. I think we can fine tune a bit there. There's some things I want to try; not silly things but big things. Just so I know that's not the way and to give us more information. Also for me and my understanding. I think it's a very, very important test and it's good that we're doing it now. If we had done it too early... now we can see where we're at, where we're struggling and we can work on them areas. It was going to be after Barcelona but it's better now.