Alex Lowes: ‘I didn’t deserve the chance to go to MotoGP’

Leader of the WorldSBK championship after the opening round in Phillip Island, Alex Lowes put together his best weekend as a Kawasaki rider.

Victory in the Superpole Race and Race 2 was enough to overhaul rookie Nicolo Bulega, as he took over the series lead for the first time since 2020.  

• Jonathan Rea and WorldSBK rivals set for two-day test this week 

• Alex Lowes: ‘Our target is to keep working on race pace, keeping grip for longer’

One of the best riders in WorldSBK, Lowes never got a true chance to showcase his skills in MotoGP, as was the case for former team-mate and six-time Superbike champion Jonatan Rea.

Lowes took part in two MotoGP races in 2016, scoring points on his debut, however, when speaking to Keith Huewen on the OMG MotoGP Podcast, the Brit admitted his results in WorldSBk after that weren’t enough to merit a return full-time to grand prix racing.

“I don’t think I was good enough at the right time,” began Lowes. “Racing is hard because there are a lot of good people.

“You need the right bike, the right people around you at the right time to do a good job and build your confidence.

“There are a lot of things at our level that need to click into place. Johnny obviously felt like the offers he had would never really allow him to do as well as he thought he could. That was his excuse to me as to why he didn’t go.

“For me, when I rode in MotoGP in the couple of races I did in 2016, I never looked at someone and thought I can’t do that. But I remember thinking that it’s a different kettle of fish.

“The tyres were a lot different and the bike itself was not massively difficult to ride, but I remember speaking to Sam who was going to Aprilia the next year, and you never followed Lorenzo and thought it’s pointless me riding in MotoGP.

“I remember thinking I would like to be on the factory bike to see how well you could do. But I knew the results I had in WorldSBK - I was never going to get that [in MotoGP[.

“My only thought was to do better in WorldSBK. I never did that so I didn’t deserve the chance to go to MotoGP.”

Bringing it back to WorldSBK, Alex is not the only Lowes brother in the series this season as Sam moved across from Moto2 aboard the favoured Ducati machinery.

And despite Sam being a rookie, Alex Lowes believes he can win a race in 2024, something Bulega has already achieved on the factory Ducati bike.

“I genuinely think he can win a race as a rookie and I need to get back to that level that I’ve been at,” said Lowes. 

“One of my targets is to share a podium together whilst we’re racing together.

“It’s been 15 or 16 years since we have but if we can be on a World Championship podium together, that’d be amazing – as long as he’s behind me!”