Sam Lowes: Hot Australian WorldSBK weather is “good condition” for Ducati

This weekend’s World Superbike round in Australia is set to see temperatures exceed 30 Celsius at times, something that, according to Sam Lowes, suits the Ducati package.

The high temperatures expected for Saturday combined with forecast strong winds have led to an alert for extreme fire dangers in southeastern Australia.

In Phillip Island, temperatures are expected to reach 32 Celsius on Saturday, which, from a racing perspective, means less grip from the track surface.

Hot weather at Australian WorldSBK

Lowes said that his Marc VDS team had been able to find a direction with the Ducati Panigale V4 R in Friday’s FP2 session that helped with the warmer conditions compared to FP1 and the test earlier this week, and so they plan on heading further in that direction for the hotter temperatures expected for Superpole and Race 1.

“It was a good day for us, we managed to make some good steps forward from the test, which was positive,” Lowes told WorldSBK.com.

“I think in the afternoon, when the track got a bit hotter it felt a bit greasy to start with, but after we figured it out a bit and obviously it looks like for the Ducati it was good conditions – we were all quite strong.

“Tomorrow, the forecast looks a bit more warm, a bit more of a step on today. We think we have a good direction, and we’ve now fixed the tyre choice for the race; for qualifying it’s obviously different.

“We’ll try and make a good job of that and start near the front.”

Expanding on the hotter weather forecast for Saturday, Lowes said: “It’s the same for everybody, the track will be slower, we have the pit stop so even if the front starts to move around we can change it halfway through.

“Sure, it will be difficult, it will be greasy, will be complicated, I think, so the times will probably be a little bit off, but normally when we think that it doesn’t happen.

Lowes added that the Ducati is suited to the hot conditions perhaps more than some of the other bikes.

“I think also when the temperature goes up it suits our bike a little bit; we can manage to keep the momentum – also with the engine and the electronics.

“The race is always different, I think the guys on the Ducatis, as well as it being a good bike, are the ones – [Andrea] Iannone, [Nicolo] Bulega, [Alvaro Bautista] – that suit this track.

“So, I think there are many reasons for it, but I think the bike works so it’s nice to be on one of them.

“We need a bit, need a little bit in sector four, need to try and figure that out tonight, check a little bit and see if we can improve a couple of tenths there and I think then we’ll be in the mix.”