Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) secured P5 after losing out in a late-race battle with Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) in Race 2 for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. It was a good recovery for the #22 following his Race 1 crash and he revealed a change of mentality between Race 1 and Race 2 that enabled him to secure fifth at the Cremona Circuit. The Brit also spoke about how the higher temperatures impact the bike.

Lowes took fourth in Saturday’s Tissot Superpole session, although he was promoted to the front row for the Race 1 grid after Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) was given a three-place grid penalty. While running in the podium places, Lowes crashed out at Turn 7 which ended his hopes of a rostrum, although he was able to secure second in the Tissot Superpole Race after opting to use the harder SCX tyre while some of his rivals used the SCQ.

In Race 2, Lowes started from the front row following his morning podium but was immediately demoted to fourth, behind race winner Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) as well as Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) and Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven). He fell behind the charging Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) on Lap 7 and remained in P5 for a few laps before passing Iannone for fourth. He remained there until Lap 22 of the 23-lap race, when Gerloff got ahead of him under braking at Turn 11.

Reflecting on his P5, Lowes said: “It was a difficult race. When the temperature jumped up, it was a good 10 degrees hotter than the Superpole Race, I didn’t have the pace to stay with the Ducatis. With our bike, you really need to use the corner speed to make up some of the difference and when it gets hot, I can’t use the front tyre like that. I had a good race. I was accepting of the position, unlike Saturday, and trying to stay consistent. Garrett was catching me, and he was sitting behind me. I had a group of guys behind, and I decided to keep a good pace. With a few laps to go, I tried to push again and went a few tenths faster, but it looked like Garrett had some more speed and he was able to pass me at the end. That’s annoying, to lose fourth position. We did well and our maximum. I couldn’t do anymore today, and we have to be happy with P5.”

The Brit went on to explain how there was a change of mentality from Saturday to Sunday, preferring to ‘race his race’ on the final day of the Italian Round whereas on Saturday, he was aiming to take advantage of a couple of riders being out of position. He also refuted the idea that a lack of information was behind not being able to get on the podium, but an increase in temperatures compared to the Sunday morning race.

Lowes explained: “I crashed in Race 1 because I wanted to be in the fight with the Ducatis. You can say, with Iannone and Alvaro a bit behind, there was an opportunity for a podium. My mentality was to try and stay with those guys. On Sunday, I had a different mentality which was just ‘race my race’. As a rider, it’s not as much fun when you do that, but it’s just as hard work and I gave everything I had every lap, with no mistakes, and I don’t feel like we lacked information. The bike was good to the end, my pace was really consistent. We just lacked some speed in the hot conditions.”

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