Elf Marc VDS rider Sam Lowes is hoping to lay his Valencia demons to rest this weekend by continuing his recent Moto2 podium form.

Having secured a victory and a third place in the past two races, Lowes is back on a roll, one he is aiming to maximise at the circuit that caused him so much trouble, and ultimately defeated his Moto2 title challenge, in 2020.

“Obviously is good when you’re having a good run of races to get straight back into it,” Lowes explained to bikesportnews.com from the Ricardo Tormo paddock.

“Valencia’s a track I enjoy, last year obviously I has the crash in the first round and then hurt my hand in the second one, so yeah, it was not a great one for me. It’s a track I’ve always liked. I’ve never had a podium here so I’ll be looking forward to try and do that this weekend but it’s one that a lot of riders have done a lot of laps, it’s one we test at a lot, so is a good one for the last race.

“I think this weekend’s gonna be quite a good atmosphere. This track’s good for that, gives you this sort of stadium feeling and I’m looking forward to it, to try and finish the season on a bit of a roll like we are.

“[This season has] not been what we wanted. We wanted to obviously be fighting for a little bit more important positions, rather than top four in the championship, but it’s like that and it’s been a good season in some parts and we can use that to go into next year.

“I think this track is quite unique, obviously coming from Portimao which is also unique. This track is quite a lot different setting maybe to some others, the tyre allocation also is quite set so is just the case of spinning the laps, getting the confidence in, working on the race pace and just trying to see the best result - aim for another podium or try and get another victory to finish the year.

“There is a Moto2 test next week,” he continued, looking ahead already to 2022. “20th-23rd I think but I’m just doing one day because it’s also a Dunlop tyre test. So I’ll be doing the Dunlop test but just to try some things for them and then we have new parts and new chassis and everything to try in February. So just one day testing which is sound and then a good winter. Big winter training, try and improve some stuff and come out again fighting for 22!”

With the MiniGP World Final in full swing during our chat, Lowes expressed his support of the project, especially in the interest of British riders progressing onto the world stage.

“Obviously it’s great to see young talent,” he said. “This Ohvale thing worldwide is going quite good. I personally use one to train a little bit, I know a lot of riders do, so I think it’s quite cool that they can also ride similar bikes to what we’re riding and they can all train and understand a bit more. I’m sure it’s gonna bring riders on better. I think for British racing especially - because there’s a little bit of a harder route up - I think it’s great that this level of bikes in the championship can happen. I do really like to see the new talent come through and help where I can and anything that’s helping young riders is obviously a good thing.”