MotoGP Germany: Lowes ready to ‘ride the wave’ after podium fight

Elf Marc VDS’ Sam Lowes secured his first Moto2 pole of the season and celebrated his first podium since Qatar at the Sachsenring on Sunday.

A well-needed and hard-fought result saw the Brit’s luck finally turn after a tough run in 2022, despite a broken screen and edge of seat duel with Moto3 Champion Pedro Acosta in the closing stages.

“I needed that one!” a relieved Lowes said from Germany. “I’m really happy to do it at this track. This track is complicated for me and also after the run of races I’ve had it was very important weekend. I’m so relieved, happy but relieved to get this result and before the summer break to give myself something to work on at Assen and into the summer.

“It was nice to have pole position and a podium,” he continued. “At the end I thought we could have done a little bit more but this is something every rider feels.

“Early in the race I had a bit of a neutral, hit a neutral in turn four and I smashed the screen. So did the whole race and I only had half the screen so I was blowing about. Luckily this track it’s not so important.

“In the middle of race, I didn’t ride great. I was a bit tight and I was struggling a bit with the front. At the end I sort of kept my pace, I felt like I could go a bit quicker but me and Pedro was having a battle - I kept passing him, he kept pushing me back so I didn’t really get to show my pace, but in the end, I’m happy to take the podium. It was a good weekend for me.

“I had a bit more grip than Pedro, so down the waterfall I was on the outside and I tried to cut it back the last corner, I had a lot better exit than him because I had a bit more grip but then we just touched a little bit. Luckily, it looked bad but was not too much and we both stayed on and made