Alex Lowes says he thinks he and Kawasaki can be in the mix this weekend after his unexpected placement at the top of the timesheets on the first day of free practice for the opening round of the 2024 WorldSBK Championship at Phillip Island.
Alex Lowes, The British rider, who won his lone and only race at Phillip Island in 2020 while racing for Kawasaki, carried over his good form from pre-season testing to top the standings at the end of Formula Two with a lap time of 1 minute, 29.042 seconds.
Despite several of the more highly anticipated competitors being impacted by the erratic nature of the two practice sessions, Lowes demonstrated his strength throughout the day despite the blustery conditions and intermittent periods of rain.
Lowes performed admirably in FP2 to bring some happiness to Kawasaki in its first event without the six-time WorldSBK title-winning hero Jonathan Rea since 2014, having narrowly missed out on winning FP1 due to a late flyer from Andrea Locatelli.
“To be honest, it went well. We had some challenging conditions and not many laps,” stated Lowes, who finished in the top five in the official pre-season test on Tuesday.
He said, “I didn’t expect to be as fast as I was.” “I’m sure there are a lot of things to work on, but maybe you can utilize the SC2 tyre for one lap before it starts to decline.
Overall though, things are looking up. We know there are a lot of quick people this year, so things are competitive, but if we can qualify well, we should be able to compete and have a successful start to the year.
Anticipating the race weekend, Lowes intends to maintain his one-lap pace into qualifying and thinks he can gain from a change in the race schedule that will need a pit stop after ten laps for both of the main events.
Since the test, the weekend format has changed, so there is a new mindset. Instead of focusing on tire performance for 22 laps, we are looking for out-and-out performance, which allows us to play with the bike and maybe be more aggressive.
“We know how good the Ducati is in a race; they usually find a little bit more and end up being the men in the front. We haven’t been racing with some of these riders, Sam, Bulega, Iannone.
“I am excited to race with them, but I am also strong and fast, and I feel like I can outpace everyone when there is enough grip on the bike.”
