Alex Lowes believes he will have the opportunity to take the podium of the UK Worldsub after practice at Donington despite the hot conditions of Vimota “uncompetitive.”
Lowes was fastest on FP1 on Friday morning, but slipped to sixth in FP2 as a condition, focusing on collecting data, with an afternoon race run as well.
“In cooler conditions there’s a good chance,” Alex Rose said after World Superbike practice at Donington.
“Kawasaki did well here last year.
“The advantage of Bimota is the way the bike spins, and it’s a little easier to ride.
“The conditions are hot and there’s less grip. This is something we’re still trying to improve,” he said.
“In the hot conditions, we weren’t competitive, but it wasn’t that bad.
“I was looking in the long run to provide as much information as possible.
“I sacrificed the opportunity to go on a faster lap. We preferred to get on track due to the closest distance of the race. I need that information.
“Let’s say we’re behind. I’m like I did one race (now) so that we can see that info tonight and analyze where we need to improve.
“I felt it was a great opportunity to improve the packaging.”
Lowes explained that Ducati in particular can suffer less in the heat.
“When a Ducati engine or electronics gets hot, it feels like it’s not too hard at a truck temperature of 55 or 57 degrees,” he said.
“They seem to find it easy.”
Despite this, Lowes feels he has a chance to take the podium on Saturday.
“To be honest, there’s a chance,” he said.
“Toprak (Razgatlioglu) and Bulega were faster than anyone, but if I qualify well, I have the same chance as anyone.
“If I do my job well, there’s no reason why I can’t take on the podium.”