Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) will sit out the rest of the Motul Portuguese Round after being declared unfit due to a right wrist and hand functional impairment, after he sustained a fracture in a crash in Catalunya. The British rider missed Race 2 in Jerez for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship the following round, before taking part in FP1 and FP2 at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve before he was reassessed and declared unfit again.

Lowes had shown strong pace on Friday in Portimao as he posted the second-fastest time of the day, a 1’41.657s, only behind teammate and six-time Champion Jonathan Rea. However, following the medical checks after Friday’s action, Lowes will miss the weekend’s three races.

In a post on Instagram, Lowes said: “I am so disappointed with the situation; to be honest I’d like to go out and race, since I feel very fast as shown yesterday and I can actually ride few laps alone. After talking to doctors and team management they strongly recommend to not race - especially on a physically demanding circuit like Portimao. When I work towards a race simulation my hand gets inflamed and this could challenge my full recovery for the last two races of the season, so a difficult decision had to be made. Anyway, despite being frustrated following the great feeling of yesterday on the bike there had to be a simple decision - ride or not, and I was advised to sit this one out.”

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