Britain’s Sam Lowes has been promoted to sixth in the season-opening Moto2 race at Qatar after runner-up Taka Nakagami was disqualified for running an illegal air filter.

Lowes had to battle some grip issues and chatter for a majority of the race - and Domnic Aegerter’s expiring bike covering his visor in oil at the end - but takes home hatful of points which the Derby-based rider is more than happy about.

“In the race the grip was quite bad, also in the end we suffered a little bit with chatter but in the end to get the points is quite good good start to the season. It’s a solid start. It was nice to get some points on the board and as a racer you always want more but I’m reasonably happy,” said Lowes.

“The first few laps for me were quite difficult, it was the first time racing at this track and the lines threw me off a little and I got into a bad rhythm but after that I started to ride like I could in Supersport, so it made it a bit easier in the middle of the race.

“There was no problem with my arm in the race, it was a bit sore afterwards and it didn’t cause me any issues. The only issue was that, with six or seven laps to go, I was behind Aegerter and his bike started to throw out oil. I didn’t know how hard to push as it was all over my visor and I thought I might crash.

“I am definitely looking forward to the next one, I was very nervous for this one. It’s step by step, we just want to plug away and get back to Europe and on to some more familiar ground.”