MotoGP Mandalika: Lowes hoping for dry race, ‘front row and in the mix’

Elf Marc VDS’ Sam Lowes secured 2022’s second Moto2 front row start in succession at Mandalika on Saturday afternoon.

The Brit endured a challenging qualifying session ahead of the Indonesian Grand Prix with multiple yellow flags and even an early chequered, disrupting his progress. Despite the complications, Lowes was one of only three riders to lap the new Lombok layout inside the 1’35 bracket, securing a consecutive third position at the front of the grid for his second race of 2022.

Heavy early morning rain saw wet conditions for the intermediate class’ final practice session before dry running increased the speed for qualifying. With another mixed forecast on the cards for Sunday, Lowes is hoping the rain stays away for the 25-lap contest after struggling to perfect his wet set-up, and circulating 17th for FP3.

“I’m happy with today,” Lowes said from Lombok on Saturday. “I need to find some improvements in the rain because I didn’t feel so good in the wet conditions in the morning but in the dry I felt good. We need to look at and evaluate a few little things this evening like the race pace and the tyre life but we don’t know what the weather conditions will be like tomorrow. We have to wait and see.

“Overall, I feel good. Obviously pushing a little bit the front, and didn’t get the best lap time in but I’m really happy with the pace I had.

“There was a bit of a confusion at the end because they showed me the chequered flag even though there was a second left on the board but anyway, then I went into turn one and there was a yellow flag. So there was a bit of confusion with Augusto, but I think nearly every lap I had was a yellow flag, so this is really difficult. Really difficult in this track because not so long to