Alex Lowes: ‘We can fight for the podium’, Axel Bassani Assen ‘a difficult one’

Alex Lowes believes he can fight for the podium again during this weekend’s Assen WorldSBK round.

Winner of two races at Phillip Island, Lowes was unable to replicate those results in Catalunya as Ducati and BMW led the way. 

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However, Lowes remained a contender when it came to finishing in the top five, and with Assen a more Kawasaki-friendly circuit than Barcelona, staying in title contention should be possible for the British rider.

“Assen is a great track and a really fun layout,” began Lowes. “It’s a circuit I’ve always enjoyed riding at. We know how close WorldSBK is this year and we also know that Friday is going to be so important.

“We need to work hard from FP1 to put us up front for the Superpole Qualifying session.

“From there I believe we can fight for the podium - but let’s focus on Friday and then go from there.

“Assen is always a busy event with lots of support, so I’m excited about getting out to the Netherlands.”

Team-mate Axel Bassani is also hoping to secure a big haul of points after two difficult first rounds aboard the ZX-10RR.

Bassani has found the transition from Ducati to Kawasaki tough, but Assen is a circuit he enjoys.

Bassani said: “Finally we will come back to race. I like going to Assen a lot and it is a circuit with a lot of history. 

“It is a difficult one because it is really fast and it is not easy to find a good line in the fast corners.

“The first sector is really slow but the rest of the track is really nice. I hope it will be better for us than Barcelona because it was difficult.

“I hope that we can have good weather at Assen but we will see. We will continue to do our jobs, to try to push, to enjoy it and then we will see what happens over the weekend.”