Sam Lowes bemused by French WorldSBK Race 1 crash: “I’m not sure what happened”

After running fourth for almost the entirety of Race 1 at the French WorldSBK, Sam Lowes crashed alone and remounted for ninth over the line.

Lowes started well and was in the podium positions to begin with, but he was quickly passed by Nicolo Bulega for third.

He then chased his brother, Alex Lowes, for almost all of the remainder of his race, before a crash on lap 19 at turn 13 saw him drop down the order.

The crash came after qualifying on the front row in third place on Saturday morning, a positive for the Marc VDS Ducati rider, but the in-race context of the crash meant it was a frustrating one for Lowes and one he did not immediately understand.

“I’m happy with the qualifying, it’s nice to be on the front row again, show my speed,” Lowes told WorldSBK.com after finishing ninth in Race 1 at Magny-Cours.

“We’re struggling a bit with the race setup, I don’t feel so confident.

“I would’ve finished fourth, I had a big gap behind, I couldn’t pass Alex [Lowes] in front, I was a bit slower than him.

“It’s not good to crash like that so I’m really disappointed, obviously, because it was a stupid crash.

“We need to understand what happened because it was really slow and I’m not sure what happened. But it’s like this.

“This track, some corners are complicated and you have to respect well some of the [asphalt] and everything, you have to really stay focused not to release the brake or get on the gas in the wrong moment.

“It was a shame, it would’ve been nice to get that fourth place. In the end, we finished ninth with a crash, so it’s still some points on the board. Still overall a positive day, I’m happy with how I’m riding, I think we can improve a bit in some areas, and let’s see tomorrow.”

Looking at the race technically, Lowes was concerned by an apparent lack of speed in his bike compared to the factory Ducati of Bulega on the straight, something he felt was not consistent with what had been the case in the first part of the World Superbike season.

“When Bulega passed Alex [Lowes] he passed really easy in the straight – a lot easier than me, honestly,” Lowes said.

“So, we’re missing speed compared to the factory bike which has not been the case all season, so this we have to understand why they have an advantage on us because this is something that in World Superbike we don’t want to have.

“So, I need to try to improve because we’ve not been missing all year.”

Straight line performance was not the only area to improve for Lowes, though.

“Sector four I’m struggling,” he said.

“I need to understand the line, or maybe the way I’m doing the last two corners is wrong.

“We’ll try to improve that and see if we can make that step tomorrow.”