After Aprilia decided not to honor the second year of Sam Lowes' contract for 2018, the British rider reacted by significantly improving his performance aboard the RS-GP by achieving the seventh fastest time on the first day of testing free of the Aragon Grand Prix.
Although upset by his replacement by his compatriot Scott Redding next year with the Italian manufacturer, Sam kept his morale up by signing a good contract with the CarXpert Interwetten team to replace Tom Luthi in Moto2.
But he has not given up on Aprilia, where he is starting to master the machine. He has just achieved the seventh fastest time this Friday on the wet MotorLand track, which was a magnificent result, especially if we take into account the ninth place of his teammate Aleix Espargaro, the best reference because with almost no equipment. equal, and knowing that the Spaniard with the generous right wrist is always keen to shine in front of his family during his four national Grands Prix.
The gap between Lowes and Espargaro is not negligible because it amounts to 0.430, or almost half a second. And Sam precedes Andrea Dovizioso by 0.377, one of the two leaders of the World Championship with Marc Marquez. We can imagine that Dovi did not ride at full speed, but the fact remains that Lowes nevertheless produced a good performance. It's rare enough this year to highlight it and pay tribute to him for not being discouraged.
According to Sam Lowes, who are " I think the Valencia test helped us. We were able to use some solutions studied during this test, particularly in terms of electronic strategies.
“In today's special conditions, I was fast without making any mistakes. It's nice to be able to show my potential, although I prefer to do it on a dry track. Tomorrow in FP3, there will be a lot of drivers who will attack to go directly to Q2 and I would like to reproduce this result, but I will concentrate on preparing for the race.
“It will be my first time here in Aragón on the MotoGP machine. I really like this track, so working with Sunday in mind is the most important thing. »
To Alex Espargaro, his teammate at Aprilia, ninth this Friday, “ I like this track, adapted to the qualities of RS-GP, so it was a shame not to be able to fully enjoy this first day.
“With the wet tire, but not a lot of water on the track, the conditions were far from ideal, but we were able to be quite competitive. Tomorrow will be complicated. We won't have much time to test the tires for the race, but it will be crucial to make a good choice, as the forecast calls for very high temperatures. »
Results of the first day of free practice:
1- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’59.858
2- Jorge Lorenzo – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 0.214
3- Johann Zarco – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.462
4- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.601
5- Karel Abraham – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 0.613
6- Cal Crutchlow – LCR Honda – Honda RC213V – + 0.624
7- Sam Lowes – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP – + 0.727
8- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 1.104
9- Aleix Espargaro – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – Aprilia RS-GP – + 1.157
10- Pol Espargaro – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16 – + 1.184
11- Alvaro Bautista – Pull&Bear Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 1.245
12- Jack Miller – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V – + 1.291
13- Bradley Smith – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16 – + 1.492
14- Andrea Iannone – Team Suzuki ECSTAR – Suzuki GSX-RR – + 1.613
15- Mika Kallio – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – KTM RC16 – + 1.634
16- Scott Redding – OCTO Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 1.658
17- Maverick Vinales – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.774
18- Jonas Folger – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.887
19- Danilo Petrucci – OCTO Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 1.952
20- Valentino Rossi – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.059
21- Alex Rins – Team Suzuki ECSTAR – Suzuki GSX-RR – + 2.219
22- Tito Rabat – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – Honda RC213V – + 2.534
23- Loris Baz – Reale Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 2.819
24- Hector Barbera – Reale Avintia Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP – + 3.077
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Marc MARQUEZ-Honda 199 points
2 Andrea DOVIZIOSO-Ducati 199
3 Maverick VIÑALES-Yamaha 183
4 Valentino ROSSI-Yamaha 157
5 Dani PEDROSA-Honda 150
6 Johann ZARCO-Yamaha 110
7 Danilo PETRUCCI-Ducati 95
8 Cal CRUTCHLOW-Honda 92
9 Jorge LORENZO-Ducati 90
10 Jonas FOLGER-Yamaha 84
11 Alvaro BAUTISTA-Ducati 62
12 Scott REDDING-Ducati 54
13 Jack MILLER-Honda 53
14 Aleix ESPARGARO-Aprilia 43
15 Loris BAZ-Ducati 39
16 Andrea IANNONE-Suzuki 33
17 Pol ESPARGARO-KTM 31
18 Karel ABRAHAM-Ducati 28
19 Alex RINS-Suzuki 27
20 Tito RABAT-Honda 27
21 Hector BARBERA-Ducati 23
22 Michele PIRRO-Ducati 18
25 Sam LOWES-Aprilia 2 points
