'Happy' Sam Lowes posts fastest time in sensational start to the French Moto2 Grand Prix

Sam Lowes posted the fastest time as the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team enjoyed a sensational start to the French Moto2 Grand Prix at the legendary Le Mans track yesterday.

Teammate Augusto Fernandez was third quickest.

On a day dominated by cool, cloudy and windy conditions, only one other rider was able to lap within 0.2s of Lincoln's Lowes, with Fernandez building on the success of a recent private test in Motorland Aragon to fight for the top three in both sessions.

With rain predicted for today, Lowes and Fernandez may well have already claimed crucial spots in Q2.

Lowes was third after completing a session high 21-laps and his best time of 1’37.678 was less than a second off the race lap record, despite track temperature only registering a chilly 11 degrees.

Lowes delivered another commanding performance while assessing the performance of Dunlop’s two rear tyre options and his quickest pace of 1’36.307 was less than 0.2s away from the three-year-old all-time lap record held by Pecco Bagnaia.

“I feel strong and happy with the job done today”

“I’m really happy with how today has gone. The track wasn’t easy to understand this morning because there were still quite a few damp patches.

"But I did a lot of laps because I wanted to understand where you could push in those circumstances because we know the race on Sunday could be in any condition.

"I did some good times on both tyre options this afternoon and that gives us some good information to look at tonight.

"I feel strong and happy with the job done. We can improve in the third sector but for day one in difficult conditions I’m happy and we can look forward to (today).”