MotoGP Portimao: Lowes focused on Jerez after ‘strange restart’

Elf Marc VDS’ Sam Lowes was caught up in the lap nine chaos as rain struck the Moto2 Portuguese GP on Sunday afternoon.

Having suffered a poor start, Lowes found himself working his way back from 11th in the opening laps and biding his time in the tricky conditions - the grid having lined up on slicks but with rain threatening from the outset.

As lap nine fired up a deluge fell without warning on the fastest part of the track with the front group sent skittling through the gravel trap in quick succession.

“I honestly felt quite good in the first race,” Lowes explained. “I was taking my time because of the rain but I felt good on the bike.

“Then we came to turn three. I crashed so fast that I don’t understand what happened. There were many bikes going either side of me so we were quite lucky.”

With rules declaring all riders, and bikes, eligible for restarts must be back in pitlane within five minutes of a red flag, none of the fallers were present for the remaining seven lap sprint.

“It’s not good that they restarted the race with the back of the grid. That was a bit strange,” Lowes admitted after the dust had settled. “That’s two races in a row where I’ve scored no points. It was more because of the situation than my mistake.

“Anyway, we’ll look forward to Jerez, which is a track that I like. This weekend I was a lot more competitive so we can hope to start in a good way.”

The 31-year-old was visibly in pain after he was struck by another bike in the gravel trap during the incident but medical checks have since cleared him of any injury, with the paddock now heading for round six at Jerez de la Frontera, in southern Spain, next weekend.