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It is needless to say that after the brilliant preseason test at Jerez de la Frontera, expectations were very high for Team Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 to be among the absolute protagonists of the first European weekend of the season in the middleweight class.
Things did not go as planned, however, with Sam Lowes struggling to find the right feeling throughout the weekend; today, in what was a shortened race following the crash by Marquez and Gardner on the opening lap, he crashed while entering turn nine with only few laps in.
A mistake that came with great cost, with the Briton that was putting together a good recovery: he was running in eight position at the time of the crash, and with the pace shown he could have easily finished within the top six.
There are now a few hours available to analyse what happened and decide what to do, before taking on a one-day test at the same track on Tuesday 7th.
DNF – SAM LOWES #22
“It has been a very difficult weekend because this is a track I really like and where I’m normally very competitive. I was expecting to be quick this time too, but it was all ups and downs. We were quick in one session but then not so much in the following one. Things didn’t go well at all during warm up, but then the situation improved during the race. We were still missing some grip, but the crash was my mistake – nothing wrong with the bike. I was too fast entering turn nine and then I crashed. We didn’t have the pace to win but surely to be in the top six. We now have to focus on the test in order to better understand the new tyres and be 100% ready for Le Mans.”
Source: gresiniracing.com