The Tissot Czech Round kicked off in almost the perfect fashion for Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) after a strong showing in the dry Free Practice 1 session at the Autodrom Most as he claimed second place overall after Friday’s running for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s first visit to the Czech Republic in three years.

Returning to the same country he secured his first WorldSBK win in 2018, albeit a different venue, Lowes started where he left off from the last visit to the Czech Republic with strong pace in the dry morning Free Practice 1 session. With Free Practice 2 interrupted by a rain shower, Lowes’ time of 1’33.622s was enough for second place, six tenths away from pacesetter Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK).

Lowes will be hoping this good pace continues as he targets a top-three finish in the Championship come the end of the season, knowing good results will help propel him closer to Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), Razgatlioglu and teammate Jonathan Rea. The British rider has shown strong pace throughout 2021 in his second year with KRT but is still chasing his first victory of the 2021 campaign.

Discussing how he thinks Tissot Superpole and racing will play out across the Czech Round, Lowes said: “I don’t think it’s a track that’s going to be too easy to pass on, so we need to be having a good Superpole and a good start of the race. Some of the parts, because it’s a lot of changes of direction and quite fast, it’s a little bit one line. We need to work hard tomorrow morning to have the bike feeling good. Work hard in Superpole because there’s going to be guys still tweaking the bikes, the setup come race time. Luckily for us, we started off pretty strongly, so we’ve got a good reference to build on.”

After a strong start to action at the Autodrom Most, Lowes will be looking to continue this into Saturday’s Tissot Superpole and Race 1. With a best result of second place so far in 2021, and showing he is able to track six-time Champion teammate Rea when directly behind him in races, Lowes’ will be hoping he can go one better at a circuit he has started strongly at; and it would celebrate his new contract in stunning fashion.

Follow all the action from the Autodrom Most using the WorldSBK VideoPass!