MotoGP Austin: Lowes ‘expecting to fight for the top five’

Elf Marc VDS Racing’s Sam Lowes completed qualifying in ninth at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday.

Recovering from a turn 17 crash at the end of free practice three, Lowes was still struggling to find optimum feeling in qualifying as he set his 2’09.900 best to secure the edge of the third row.

With the intermediate class action heading out first as the AmericasGP gets underway, the 31-year-old still believes he has the rhythm to challenge for the top five in Sunday’s 18-lap race.

“It was a strange qualifying,” Lowes reflected from Austin. “We know if you get some yellow flags it’s difficult because this is a long lap and the 15-minute session is short.

“I didn’t put a good lap together. We’re still missing a bit of something but hopefully we can change the bike a bit tonight and find a better feeling. The team is doing a very good job and I think our pace isn’t so far off.

“I’m looking forward to the race. We’re starting from the third row, with a good start we can have a nice race from there and expect to fight for the top five.

“We’ll make some changes, improve the bike a bit and I need to work on my riding in a couple of sectors. We’ll have a good sleep tonight and look forward to a good race.”