MotoGP Motegi: Garage fire for Lowes

Sam Lowes’ preparations for the Japanese GP faced a setback on Thursday after the Elf Marc VDS pitbox caught fire in the early evening.

With the usual race against time for back-to back races heightened by the logistics of travelling from Europe to Japan - especially amid the current and repeated threat of Typhoons thrown into the mix - the situation intensified on Thursday when a fire broke through the garage.

Situated between the Suzuki and Aprilia MotoGP teams in the Japanese pitlane, the fire was quickly contained and luckily no staff were injured. The Kalex motorcycles also promptly moved out of harms way, leaving just the pitbox periphery to suffer the consequences.