EG00 Marc VDS rider Sam Lowes battled for the top-three in both Friday sessions in Valencia today as practice got underway for the penultimate round of the 2020 Moto2 World Championship, with the Brit settling for fourth overall by the narrowest of margins.

After rain disrupted preparations last weekend, a brighter start to the weekend was more than welcomed, with Lowes immediately up to speed in morning practice as he battled for position with Jorge Navarro - the local hero eventually winning out with the day’s fastest time.

An impressive 1’34.957 left the title-challenger just 0.015s outside of the top three this morning before he took advantage of sunny conditions to evaluate a new swingarm designed to improve acceleration grip and braking stability in FP2.

Despite grip levels affected by an increase in track temperature from 19 to 24 degrees this afternoon, Lowes led for a long period of the second session. Setting consistent pace as he worked through his two runs, the 30-year-old concluded the afternoon as one of only two riders to lap under the 1.35 bracket, finishing just 0.090s behind Italian Fabio di Giannantonio in FP2 and one-tenth back from the fastest time in the overall standings.

“It was a good start to the weekend and I quickly found a good feeling again after the disappointment of Sunday’s race,” said Lowes.

“We tried some new parts because we had good conditions to work in and I was able to draw some positive conclusions that we can build on for tomorrow.

“I feel like I’m on the pace and I was close to the best time in both sessions, but I need to improve in the last sector. I made a step this afternoon and we still need to find a bit more time in that section.

“Other than that it has been a positive day and we collected a lot of interesting information to analyse for tomorrow.”