Alex Lowes sets his sights on championship top three after Portuguese WorldSBK podiums

Alex Lowes confessed he “didn’t have the speed” to challenge the leaders in WorldSBK Race 2 at Portimao, although he finished on the podium.

Lowes finished six seconds adrift of the victory in Race 2, but was on the podium thanks to a crash for Alvaro Bautista.

“It’s a track I enjoy, it’s a track the bike goes really well at,” Lowes told WorldSBK.com. Despite that, he added “I can’t tell you how hard that race was, honestly.” He explained that it was because of the weather.

“The wind changed, and it was so physical,” said the Kawasaki rider. “The bike was moving a lot from the first lap.”

Throughout the weekend, Lowes had felt strong on the bike. After the Superpole Race, Lowes said that “let’s say in the middle part of the lap — turn seven, turn eight, turn 10 — I really felt like [the bike] was turning a lot better than the other bikes.”

He felt the same after Race 2, despite the windy conditions. “I think I had some strong points on the track like I spoke about all weekend, this was great, so I was able to make some passes.”

However, Lowes said that it was not enough to fight with the riders ahead of him: BMW’s Toprak Razgatlioglu; and the factory Ducati riders, Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista, the latter ultimately crashing out of the lead battle.

“For the two Ducatis and Toprak I didn’t have the speed,” Lowes said.

Adding to the complications in the race was an inconsistent feeling in braking, caused by the movement of the bike which was exaggerated by the conditions.

“Then, honestly, I made a couple of mistakes because the bike was moving about so much, so the brake lever was inconsistent,” said the #22.

Despite the complications, Lowes was happy with his weekend. “I’m not going to complain at all: two podiums today, fantastic for the team, they’ve done a great job, we’re really enjoying it,” he said. “Every weekend, we’re surprising ourselves a little bit. We’ve earned a drink tonight, so thank you to all of them.”

Lowes’ Portimao podiums, and the aforementioned crash for Bautista in Race 2, moves the Kawasaki rider to within 10 points of Bautista in the championship.

“I try to do the best I can in the standings,” Lowes said, “but the reality is that [Bautista has] been faster than us, he’s just had a few mistakes. I’ve been consistent, I’ve had some mistakes of my own but in general I’ve been consistent.

“I feel like I just need to improve my speed in the races a little bit more to really fight with those guys in front.”

Looking ahead to the next race in France, Lowes was optimistic. “Magny-Cours is a track that I enjoy, I’ve had some good results there, so why not put up a good fight and see if we can challenge for this top three in the championship?”