Moto2: Sam Lowes: “My goal for 2021 is to become World Champion”
Sam Lowes is feeling incredibly confident as he heads into 2021 with his eyes on the prize.
Sam Lowes had his best ever season last year in Moto2 racking up 3 wins and 7 podiums in 14 races, missing the season opener at Qatar due to injury. He took home his highest ever Moto2 points tally of a staggering 196 points despite racing 4 fewer rounds than he did when he set his previous best of 186 points in 2015.
The Lincolnshire man had the title in the palm of his hands going into the last rounds of the season until an injury at Valencia derailed his chances of the title, he suffered a DNF in race 1 at the EuropeanGP before a horror crash on the Saturday of the ValencianGP broke two bones in his right hand which operates the throttle. This didn’t stop Lowes from trying, after being dosed up on god knows what the British rider fought incredibly hard to take P14 in Race 2 at Valencia scoring a crucial 2 points which would eventually tie him with Luca Marini in the overall standings.
What he did next was unbelievable, he showed an immense level of grit and determination to show up at Portimao, putting in a time worthy of P5 on the grid despite being visibly in excruciating pain with many believing he was not going to race given the level of pain he was in, believing he would not survive the gruelling 23 laps of the rollercoaster Portuguese circuit situated in Algarve. Miraculously he managed to race and complete one of the hardest races of his career to take home an unbelievable P3 finish, he was in tears in parc ferme from the pain after barely being able to do three or four consecutive laps all weekend long.
Sam Lowes in the new classic Marc VDS colours.
He is carrying his momentum and pure desire to get the job done into 2021, he feels he can put his all into racing this season and feels the best he has ever felt in his career saying, “I am ready to get the ball rolling and start the season, last year was a very big season in my career, I came back from some not so good years to have a really nice solid season and something I can build on in 2021, the key is for me to continue the form of last year and start the season really strong. I want to be consistent like a lot of last year in every situation and circuit, polishing the details.
“It’s really nice for me mentally to be working with the small details; I feel like the big thing I was missing [in racing] I got back last year so I now have that and can work on the small details to polish everything up to make another step in 2021.”
He learned a lot of lessons in 2020 which has helped him to become a better and stronger rider, gone was the Lowes we were used to seeing who crashed out of many races and sessions, that Sam Lowes was gone and replaced by a Sam Lowes who was confident and happy to take points over wins, not pushing constantly and taking the little wins to see the bigger picture of the championship fight, he suffered just two DNF’s all season long, a black flag at Styria which came from a crash from a move which caused Somkiat Chantra and Jorge Navarro to be skittled out of the race and his crash during the European GP.
Lowes aims to give Marc VDS their 4th Moto2 class title.
Speaking of what he learned in 2020 he said, “In 2020 I learned to be smarter in some sessions and not to push when I don’t need to, to manage the race weekends a bit better. I am always looking for different ways to improve my riding and technically I improved some areas which I am carrying into 2021.
“I feel the best I ever have throughout my career, I had some good seasons in the past in Moto2 and a good season last year, I think I’ve improved my weak points, now I have highlighted the areas I still need to improve and I am working on them, I know my good and bad points and I am working on them. I feel good, I feel confident I am enjoying the team, the bike and being on the track.
“My goal for 2021 is to become World Champion, to improve on last year and polish the details to get that championship.”
If Lowes can win the intermediate title, he would be the first British middleweight champion since Phil Read in 1971.
Featured images – Marc VDS
