Lowes thinking bigger after first Moto2 win of the year

Now in his ninth season in the MotoGP World Championship’s Moto2 category, Sam Lowes secured his first victory of the year with Marc VDS Racing at Jerez last month. Now he’s got even bigger goals in mind.

“Yeah, we really did well on a lot of levels at Jerez,” Lowes says. “And coming back from injury, it has just taken me longer than I thought to get back to the level I need to be at, so I knew that the Jerez track was good for me. I’d already rode this year’s bike in testing at Jerez. Everybody did, but we had a good feeling, so yep, I wanted to make a good weekend and a strong weekend and to take a step forward from the first few races.

“My shoulder and everything is feeling good now, so I expected to be strong, but not quite as strong as that. It’s always nice when it works in that direction, rather not being as strong as you think. I knew it was coming and I have been working towards it, but yes, it was a very proud moment for me to come back from where I’ve been. There were certain points last year that I wasn’t even sure if I would be racing this year with the shoulder problems. There is pride and happiness, but definitely also a lot of relief in that result, honestly.”

For Lowes, the Jerez triumph was akin to lighting a match on his ’23 title charge.

“In racing there are a lot of guys that are fast and there are a lot of teams that are good and there are there are bikes that are good, but the biggest thing that slows you down or speeds you up is your confidence and how you are feeling, so that’s something you can’t buy,” he notes. “You’ve got to wait until it comes your way until you’re feeling good on the bike. Now I feel like I’ve got a lot of things under control. I feel confident in what I’m doing. These are the moments in racing, probably in sport, actually, where you really have to kick on and make the most of it.

“There are some really good tracks coming up, tracks where I have performed well on in the past. Coming off of this result, there is no reason why I can’t go there and do the same. It’s a tight class and a tough class that we’re in, but when your moment comes you have to try and make the most of it. There is not extra pressure, it’s that you need to try and use that good momentum.”

Lowes rides the No. 22 Marc VDS Triumph-powered Kalex in Moto2, where the regulations limit the chances to gain technical advantage, so confidence and setup skills are paramount.

“Everything here is so competitive, with the engines and a lot of other things being the same,” he explains. “Each weekend comes down to a good direction on the Friday or a good setting on the Saturday. It is in the details. I feel like we’ve worked hard this year in the testing and also with the test we did this week. We have things under control, which is obviously really important. Yeah, we just use all of the benefits that we can.”

With crew chief Gilles Bigot along with team…