Elf Marc VDS’ Sam Lowes came home in 14th with just two Moto2 points at Spielberg after struggling with vibration throughout the StyrianGP.
The heavy morning rain had dissipated early enough for the 4.3km Red Bull Ring surface to dry substantially before the Moto2 race got underway, allowing all riders to start the 25-lap race on slick tyres.
Starting from seventh on the grid, Lowes showed plenty of aggression on the first lap, despite remaining aware of the damp track conditions. Initially promoting himself to sixth, the Brit held fourth by the end of lap seven and in the middle of a three-rider fight for 3rd.
Mid-race distance, however, the 30-year-old started struggling and dropped to sixth, with luck seeming to desert him on several occasions. Pushed wide at the start of lap 15 by another rider, he dropped him to 10th before regrouping and regaining a position. A mistake on the last lap when chasing eighth, ultimately sealing his fate and he lost five further places, finding the flag in 14th.
Lowes now sits 96 points behind series leader Remy Gardner, and fourth in the World Championship standings.
“The conditions were hard,” Lowes said after the race, before elaborating further.
“The first part of the race was okay but I started to struggle a lot with a vibration that I haven’t had all weekend. I dropped back a lot with a few mistakes.
“I managed to feel better in the last few laps, got into P9 then I tried to get into P8 on the last lap to salvage some good points but ran a bit wide. Obviously off line was damp so when I came back on track I nearly crashed and lost a lot of positions.
“In the end two points is better than zero, but I really struggled in the second half and didn’t expect that. It’s something completely different to how I felt during the rest of the weekend. We have to look and understand what it was.
“Apart from that, it’s nice to be back racing again. This is a difficult track for me, and it’s not a nice way to start the second half of the season but it’s two points and we’ll try and improve next week.”
