For his first day in 1000 in Valencia in mid-November, Sam ranked on his Aprilia 2.4 behind leader Maverick Vinales, then injured himself in a fall and could not participate in the second day. In Sepang, he was positioned on the first day 3.26 behind Stoner. Then he progressed thereafter and finished the three days 1.9 behind Maverick Vinales.
While the Briton is making his MotoGP debut, he only ranked 1.2 behind his experienced teammate at Sepang. Sam was in 2'01.341 and Aleix Espargaro in 2'00.108. “ At the end of these three days I managed to quite significantly reduce the gap with the leaders, which is very important, thought Lowes. We are moving in the right direction. Everything is new to me, so I learn every time I go out. My program also included a racing simulation. I saw how physically and mentally demanding riding a MotoGP at Sepang was, but I'm happy with how things went. This test was very important to me. We weren't focused on the rankings. We still have six days of testing before the Qatar Grand Prix and if we continue with this momentum I think we will be ready. »
At the last Malaysian Grand Prix, Aprilia obtained a magnificent result by placing its first bike ahead of the best Honda for the first time, Alvaro Bautista finishing seventh ahead of Jack Miller eighth. This seventh position was also the best finish of the year for the Italian manufacturer, tied with the seventh places of Stefan Bradl in Argentina and Alvaro Bautista in Japan.
During the Valencia test in November, Aprilia Racing Director Romano Albesiano preferred that the new riders, Aleix Espargaró and Sam Lowes, use the 2016 GP-RS. The new bike made its debut in January, at a private test with Mike di Meglio. For Albesiano, the 2017 is an evolution of the previous bike, with some innovation. “ The RS-GP is well balanced and has no particular weak points, so we try to optimize all aspects. Riders ask us to improve the bike's ability to turn ". And more horses? “ In the 90s, 500s had 180 horsepower, which already seemed like enough. Current MotoGPs have a hundred more, but it's never enough. The more you have, the better. »
