Sam Lowes (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) sat down with bikesportnews.com ahead of his next time on track in the premier class of Grand Prix racing – the #QatarTest – to talk about the year ahead, the adjustment from Moto2™ - and how he’s managing the step up.
Differences between the classes were one key focus of the interview, as well as his rookie competition - and how the Brit has learnt to approach MotoGP™:
Sam Lowes: “The first things are acceleration and deceleration, the speed in corner exit, and stopping. Now it’s more normal and I’m focusing on how to ride the bike and get the best from it. So I’m working to change my riding style, to be in a different position in the middle of the corner, to be able to pick up the bike quickly and to use the horsepower on the fat part of the tyre. This is what we worked on at the last test. I had a good feeling so far. We had a good work program and I’m happy to go to Qatar to make another step forward.”
One big thing the rider from Lincoln notes in the interview is the electronics – and as well as the difference in modus operandi between getting to the limit in Moto2™ and doing the same in MotoGP™.
SL22: “In the past I was obsessed by the laptimes and I was pushing all the time. Now I understand that you can't do that in MotoGP. First you need to learn the bike, and also understand when I can push or not. So I’m riding at 80% to understand everything. I’m also working a lot off the track to be more calm. You just need to be clever. It’s not just riding, it’s the whole package and I’m happy to keep on learning.”
Pressure? What pressure.
SL22: “If we arrive in Mugello or Silverstone and we are still far, then I will feel the pressure , but not now. In the past I made the mistake of looking too much at the laptimes, and I learned a lot from this. If I just put fuel in the bike and focus only on that, I will be much faster.”