After taking second place in Saturday’s Race 1 for the Pirelli Aragon Round, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) continued his fine form into Sunday with another second place in the Tissot Superpole Race before following that up with third place in Race 2; each time finishing one place behind his six-time World Champion teammate in Jonathan Rea, with Lowes appearing to take a step forward in 2021.

Both races were held in mixed conditions, with the Superpole Race being a gamble between rain and intermediate tyres while in Race 2, the choice was between slick tyres and intermediates. In the end, intermediate tyres ran out the winners in the Superpole Race while slick tyres were the order of the day in Race 2; Scott Redding (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) the only rider in the top ten to start on slick tyres.

Reacting to Sunday’s action, with Lowes picking up 25 points across both races (16 for third in Race 2 and nine for second in the Tissot Superpole Race) meaning he sits in second in the Riders’ Championship, just 12 points behind teammate Rea, Lowes discussed the long game he was playing in Race 2 to ensure his front tyre did not overheat.

Lowes said: “Before today, I’ve never ridden a World Superbike with the intermediate tyres and today we ended up riding both races with them! The last race was more or less completely dry, so I had to manage the front tyre but in the middle of the race I was battling with Toprak again, with Michael, obviously his first weekend with BMW so it’s nice to see him up the front fighting. We had a couple of laps, a couple of really good passes.

“I had a big smile on my face at this point! I was quite cautious not to overheat the front tyre. I was trying to pass, going deep on the brakes, really forcing the front tyre a lot. In the race, I had to look after the tyres. At the end, I went to a more powerful mapping on the bike to get a bit more power off the corners because I felt like I still had some grip in the rear tyre and I was trying to catch Jonny. I ran out of laps, but I felt quite good, and a solid weekend for me.”

Next up in just under a week for the WorldSBK paddock is a trip across the Iberian Peninsula to the Circuito Estoril, a circuit that hosted the 2020 season finale. While Lowes was unable to stand on the podium last year, he will be hoping he can continue with his current form and take more podium finishes. Lowes is currently on a streak of three podiums and will be hoping he can add to this tally and keep in the title fight throughout 2021.

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