Lowes “doesn’t care” about MotoGP testing timesheets

The British rider, who joins Aleix Espargaro at Aprilia this year after three seasons in Moto2, was riding last year’s RS-GP bike in Malaysia as he continued his acclimatisation to premier class machinery.

After being some 3.2s off the pace on the opening day, Lowes finished the test 23rd overall and 1.973s off the pace established by Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales.

Lowes however was adamant that he isn’t thinking about his laptimes, instead taking satisfaction from cutting the gap to the pacesetters over the course of the three days at Sepang.

“I felt like at the end of the day we could’ve improved quite a lot, the lap time, if we needed to,” said Lowes.

“I did a race run [on Wednesday] afternoon, which is a new experience around here on a MotoGP bike.

“I didn’t push too hard, I just tried to be consistent, my best laps were at the end. We took so many positives from this test. We’re building up and up.

“I stayed on the bike all three days, and I feel really confident. I don’t really care what it says on the sheet, we’ve improved anyway, we’ve got closer and closer and closer.

“How I feel on the bike is a completely different story to the first day. I’m sure I can be there in the end.”

Of his targets going forward, Lowes added: “Just to feel good. Not crashing’s quite good, but just to improve and get closer every day. If we keep going in that direction, that’s all you can do.

“Two seconds [behind] around here isn’t too bad for your first test on a long track. Phillip Island’s a lot shorter, if I can get within 1.2s from the top from three days at Phillip Island, I’m in a good position.”

Lowes said it was “99 percent” certain he would have a 2017-spec Aprilia to try at Phillip Island next week for the second pre-season test.

“In Australia, we’ll have a few more things to test and we’ll keep moving forward,” he said.

“The good thing is, I’ve used the hardest tyres, did the race run on the hardest tyre and I’m on the oldest situation we have, even though it’s still good. It’s only going to get better for me.

“That’s why I’m confident and happy. Testing’s testing, isn’t it?”

Additional reporting by Scherazade Mulia Saraswati