Sam Lowes consolidated last weekend’s success at Le Mans by securing pole position for the Aragon GP this afternoon with record-breaking pace, after setting a 1’51.651 lap at the 5km circuit.

Although the qualifying victory is his second of the 2020 season, it will be the first he can fully utilise after his Austria penalty prevented him lining up on the Misano grid.

Showing a strong performance throughout the entire weekend, Lowes has remained within the top-three in every practice session at the Spain circuit he loves so much, and is confident he has what it takes to challenge in Sunday’s 21-lap contest.

Saturday morning’s warmer conditions saw the British rider dominate the timings for a large part of the 40-minute session before Fabio Di Giannantonio took control and the Marc VDS rider suffered a late fall at turn-14 but his earlier pace, of 1’52.243, was easily enough to see him guarantee his Q2 progression by finishing FP3 second in the standings.

The afternoon fight for grid position saw Lowes off to a steady start, sitting third after the opening flying laps before circulating in 10th mid-session as he briefly evaluated his Kalex steed. His final run saw the Brit launch a determined attack on the timings, setting a new lap-record as he stormed to the top and secured his second Tissot watch of the season, with just three minutes of action remaining.

When asked if he knew he had the pace for the lap record, the 30-year-old responded:

“I thought ’51, maybe not ’51.6 but I thought ’51 [was possible] and then I also saw the guys, after my first run, had done a good lap," said Lowes.

"The first run I just had to check the bike a little bit after this morning’s mistake but I feel really strong.

“I’m really fast on the used tyres, really fast on the new tyres and just really happy!

The team have given me a great bike again and it’s nice to back up last weekend’s win with my second pole position of the year and I’m just enjoying it.

“[There have been] a couple of mistakes this weekend, as track conditions have been tricky for everyone but I’m feeling good, honestly.

“It was nice to get the first win in a long time, in France, it gave me some confidence to come here, it’s a track that I’ve gone quite well at, I really enjoy riding here and it’s come at a good time for me.

“I’ve worked hard this weekend on my pace. On used tyres I’m quite strong so hopefully I can sleep well tonight thinking about that!

“I think with the changing conditions over the weekend, with today’s conditions better than yesterday, it’s hard to fully understand exactly the pace but I’m strong. Other guys are strong as well so it all depends on the starts - which have been terrible so far this year so we’ll try and improve that and then we’ll see - but yeah if I have a clear track in the early laps I feel like I can make a nice rhythm and then see who’s there, or how many guys are there towards the end.

“I’m feeling good, I feel relaxed, it’s nice to be on the front row again and fight for the podium.

“We need to focus tomorrow and take the most points possible because that will be important for the World Championship. In my head now I’m thinking about trying to win the race and there aren’t so many races left, so if we can be really strong tomorrow it can be a big boost for the end of the year.

“I’m looking forward to it and it looks like it will be a very fast race. Maybe at the end only one or two guys will be left to battle it out and I feel like I can be one of them.”