Britain’s Sam Lowes will launch from the front row for the fifth consecutive Moto2 race tomorrow, having overcome Valencia’s challenging and ever-changing track conditions during Saturday’s intense qualifying shootout to finish third.

An overnight soaking presented a sodden Ricardo Tormo Circuit as FP3 got underway this morning, with Lowes opting to complete just two laps as the 40-minute session came to a close. The Marc VDS rider already heading directly into Q2, thanks to his second-place performance on Friday afternoon.

A lunch-time downpour meant the track surface was still littered with damp patches as the day’s final qualifying got up to speed but Lowes was undeterred. The 30-year-old produced another stunning challenge as he aimed for his third pole position in as many races, repeatedly taking control of the times as he battled with Joe Roberts.

His final hot lap of 1’39.119 again moved him into provisional pole position with just seconds remaining before Roberts and Xavi Vierge challenged again, the pair winning out by the narrowest of margins as the front row were separated by less than two-tenths of a second.

Confident of his pace and settings for both wet and dry conditions, the Brit is looking forward to Sunday’s contest, knowing there is all to play for in the title fight and that another stunning win in tomorrow’s 25-lap race will make him the first British rider to win four successive intermediate class World Championship races since legend Mike Hailwood in 1966.

“The goal is always the front row in a session like that. By the time Q2 started the track was drying a lot and throughout the session the times just got faster and faster,” said Lowes.

“I could have maybe pushed a bit more in a couple of places where the track was quite difficult to understand but I didn’t want to risk to much - sector one I was giving a lot of respect because it’s quite damp - I’m just happy to be on the front row again in such an important part of the Championship. Obviously now it’s important for me to always stay near the front and do the best job and starting on the front row is a good thing.”

“It’s the best possible way to start this final triple header. We need to make the perfect plan for tomorrow because we have a couple of ideas to improve and hopefully it will be dry in the warm-up, so we can try some things because we’ve not had much dry track time.

“I’ve done a good job and the team has been working very well and I’m looking forward to the race. With the lack of dry time we might see some different people at the front, but I think in the last six or seven laps the strongest will be there again. I’m sure I can be strong and fighting to the end.”

“I feel good. We changed the gearing quite a lot from what I had yesterday afternoon, which was a bit of a drier session, and we can have a look tonight - I haven’t quite decided which way to go, maybe a bit longer for the race - but I feel good.

“I think everyone is in the same boat. Tomorrow morning warm up is quite early so I don’t know how much we can learn then but the way things are going and the base set-up we have, I’m obviously not in a bad position. It’s a nice way to go to bed tonight.

“I think tomorrow is going to be a strange race. I think there’s going to be a lot of people going forward from where they are [on the grid], some people going backwards and it’s really hard to know the pace.

“I felt good yesterday afternoon, there was one wet corner and the rest was quite dry and the sectors that were dry matched quite nicely to last year’s pace already. I’ve just got to focus on myself, Bastianini is always a Sunday man so he will come forward and obviously the Championship is in my mind but if I can have a really strong result tomorrow then that’s going to put me in a good position.

“We can try for four in a row, we can certainly dream of it that’s for sure! I feel really good, I feel relaxed on the bike, I felt there’s a couple of parts of the track I need to improve but the rest I feel quite good. In a weekend that’s been strange, starting at the front is a big advantage so we can definitely give it a go.”