Sam Lowes recorded his record-breaking 17th Moto2 pole position at Misano on Saturday, and the 50th for Marc VDS as a team.

It was Lowes’ third pole worthy lap of the 15-minute qualifying which brought the celebrations, a 1’36.510 set after the previous efforts were deleted due to yellow flags - in what turned out to be a dramatic session with a high attrition rate.

Having surpassed Tito Rabat’s previous best record for the most career Moto2 pole positions, the celebrations continued for his Kalex team with Augusto Fernandez joining him on the front row, in third, for Sunday’s 25-lap Emilia Romagna GP.

“I really enjoyed that session and it was the best I’ve felt on the bike for quite some time,” Lowes admitted on Saturday afternoon. “The team did an amazing job to give me such a competitive package and it’s great to take this sixth pole of the season and the 50th for the team!

“I was strong on slicks in FP2 yesterday and knew I could be competitive in Q2. When we raced here last month it was very different conditions. I think everybody today has been fighting a little bit the conditions. I felt really good actually, straight away in the qualifying but I had quite a few laps with the yellow flags. I was trying, obviously I want to respect that and still push to keep the temperature and everything in the tyres but I felt like I could do a good lap. At the end we did, I think my second to last lap was cancelled for a yellow flag and then the last lap we put it all together.

“In the full wet I’ve been quite good this weekend, in the drying conditions, when we had the rain tyres but a drying track I’ve struggled a little bit so that’s something I need to work on. But with the slicks with a dry track I feel confident, I had a nice race here a few weeks ago so we can definitely fight tomorrow.

“Also this weekend, we have the new soft Dunlop tyre, and some might gamble to race that. The key will be making sure I’m in contention for the last eight laps but I’m looking forward to getting my head down tomorrow and fighting for another victory.

“It’s great to know that I now hold the record for most poles in Moto2 and that certainly gives me a big boost going into the race but yeah, means I’m getting old probably, that there’s quite a few there!” he joked.

Lowes’ usual race rivals Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez had opposing fortunes in qualifying after a challenging weekend. The Australian preparing to line up 14th with his rookie teammate ahead in ninth for tomorrow’s race.

“When you get to the end of a World Championship, they’re both fighting, they’re both quite close now, is days like today that are extra difficult,” Lowes explained of his KTM championship-battling rivals. “So is more difficult for them. Also tomorrow they’ll be trying to get as many points as they can. I expect they will be strong because this year they’ve been very impressive but to get a championship over the line is very difficult. Everything’s a bit heavier when you’re in that position and that’s good for me. Now it’s just race by race, I have nothing really to gain apart from individual results, so it will be to get back on the podium, and try and get a win. I feel good, I can definitely fight for it but back on the podium, because too many fourth places this year is not the best place to be.”

Lowes was asked his opinion on this weekend’s news regarding the rise in age limits for World Championship competition and what else need to be done to safeguard against accidents like the one seen last time out at COTA in Moto3.

“I think it’s obviously a difficult situation,” he answered cautiously. “People seem to be arriving younger and younger - I didn’t start in World Championships till I was 21, and I’m still young now so not long ago!” he laughed before continuing.

“It definitely can help in some ways but it’s not going to change many things because the level of the young riders now is very high, and the awareness of a lot of the young riders is good enough. So it’s not really this that is making the problem. If you look at Pedro [Acosta], is 17 or 16, but the way he rides, the way he makes his races, the way he does the race weekend, he’s capable to be here and he’s capable to ride properly. So everyone’s different at a different point.

“But I think Moto2 to 18 years old is quite okay, Moto3, I don’t know if this is old at 18? But, I think something else needs to be done. A lot of the riders, I think after the accident in America was complaining quite strongly, but some of these riders do exactly the same thing. So I think the penalties need to be a little bit, not harsher but they need to be more realistic.

“When someone does something wrong they need to get told about it and get a penalty because otherwise if the penalty is not harsh enough then you just do it again. Of course, it’s very difficult when in a competitive situation to find the right thing to do.

“Look at the Moto2 qualifying today, there was lots of crashes, it’s quite complicated, but to fix this is difficult. Where everyone’s pushing, the conditions are difficult, we’re going to fall off. So everything is very hard to make the correct rules that everyone will be happy about but sure something has to be done and maybe a bit stronger penalties can help that. But the age, I don’t think is a bad thing.”