Sam Lowes was forced to retire his Elf Marc VDS Kalex from the Moto2 AmericasGP after a technical problem cut short his Sunday at COTA.

The already challenging hot and humid conditions, added to the bumpy nature of the technical circuit were made even more demanding for Lowes after his Moto2 bike developed a misfire during the 18-lap joust.

The 31-year old faced a tough ask from 16th on the grid, before his job was complicated further after a tough start saw him down in 23rd by the close of the first lap.

After gaining ground and rising to 18th in the early laps, the Brit was forced to retire with nine laps remaining, a misfire compromising the safety of the continuing contest.

“A terrible weekend,” Lowes summed up bluntly.

“The bike felt better in the race so this was positive and the pace we had all weekend was good. We were not so far away from the top guys. But the problem was we had a misfire in the race.

“I was losing a lot of time and it was becoming a little bit dangerous around other riders so there was no point in continuing. It was unfortunate. We’ll find the problem and go back to Misano and get some nice results.

“We have to keep working. It’s a long way to come to have this problem. But it’s no fault of myself or the team so, of course, this is frustrating.”