“Not easy to race with our bike”: Alex Lowes ‘frustrated’ in WorldSBK Ducati battle

Alex Lowes says he found Race 1 at the French WorldSBK “a little bit frustrating” after the red flag, as he fell away from the podium battle.

Lowes had been hanging onto the back of his brother, Sam Lowes, in the original running of Race 1, but after the red flag – brought out for a crash for Tommy Bridewell – he was passed by Yari Montella for fourth, and was never able to regain the podium despite having what he felt was better pace.

“Obviously, the target is to always fight for the podium,” Alex Lowes told WorldSBK.com after Race 1 at Magny-Cours.

“We weren’t too far away – before the red flag I was quite close to my brother [Sam Lowes], a little bit of a battle with him in more of a comfortable position, let’s say – 10 laps to go – but I was thinking maybe I could’ve put a bit of pressure on him. That could’ve been fun.

“In the restart – not quite as good. I was behind my brother at the start, and then when Montella passed me it put me out of my rhythm a bit – I’m fast in different parts of the track.

“Difficult for me to pass back, but the pace that we had, I felt I could do the pace. So, a little bit frustrating, it’s not easy to race hard with our bike. 

“I had a track limits, I was obviously pushing on the limit to try and fight with those guys. We have to be happy with fifth place and we’ll try to improve a bit for tomorrow.”

Lowes’ fifth place meant he was the leading non-Ducati rider in WorldSBK Race 1, but this isn’t a badge he enjoys.

“It’s never good to say ‘best non-Ducati’,” Lowes said. “They’re doing a good job and I think before the red flag we were a bit closer. 

“I think there’s certain parts of the track I feel really strong, so I think we can do a bit better tomorrow. Of course, everybody will improve.”

The pace at the front of the field this weekend has been significantly under the existing lap records set last year by Toprak Razgatlioglu. The tyres are the same as 2025 and the conditions are warmer, which leaves Lowes surprised by the speed of not only those at the very front but also himself and Bimota, who are faster than 12 months ago.

“We’re faster than last year, consistently faster than last year,” he said.

“It’s crazy, the conditions are certainly not better than last year, maybe a little bit warmer, and the guys I think were 0.6 seconds under the lap record – the tyres are the same! 

“It’s a moving goalpost: we’re trying to get better, but then everybody gets better. We’re actually faster than last year, a little bit, but the other guys are as well.”