Alex Lowes: “Toprak is really able to extract a lot from the BMW”

Following the recent WorldSBK test at Misano, top two in the championship Alvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu remain the riders to beat, according to Alex Lowes.

Lowes, who led the championship following his double win at the season-opener in Phillip Island, has remained close in the standings although Bautista and Razgatlioglu have been stronger than the Kawasaki rider for several races.

So it will come as no surprise to hear that Lowes is picking the pair as the ones to watch at Misano later this month.

Lowes said: “It’s so close now in WorldSBK. You’ve got Toprak and Bautista, and we know how fast Alvaro is around here on the rhythm.

“We can see that Toprak is really able to extract a lot from that bike, and Superpole has never been his strong suit.

“He improved a lot on the Yamaha last year, but he shows what a package they’ve got now when they’ve got grip.”

In terms of the Misano test itself, Lowes admitted he would have liked to complete a longer race run than he managed over the two days.

“I would have liked to have done a longer run,” began the Kawasaki rider. “We’ve always struggled on the SCX tyre, so we’re not 100% sure what Pirelli are going to bring, but whenever there’s been the option of the SC0, then we’re always quite strong compared to everyone else.

“Our bike is working well with the SC0. One of our focuses was to try and do a long run with the SCX, but we didn’t get to do that.”

For team-mate Axel Bassani, the chance to test and further his progress aboard the ZX-10RR was something he needed, as improvements with the SCQ tyre were made.

“The feeling with the SCX was better than the feeling with the SCQ,” added Bassani. “I’m happy because we’ve found more front-end feeling with the SCQ.

“The lap was not so good, but the ideal lap was not so bad. Now we have to check and find the right setup for the bike before the race weekend.”

“We’ve definitely improved the bike a little bit in the electronics. The bike is less aggressive to try and move, especially with the SCX tyre on the Kawasaki.”