Podium finish for Sam Lowes at Algarve GP

Lincoln's Sam Lowes was in scintillating form at the Algarve GP as he rode to third place.

In an altered schedule to normal, the 17th race of the 2021 Moto2 World Championship was the final outing of the day, with riders attacking the wonderful Algarve International Circuit in perfect sunny conditions.

With both of Dunlop’s rear tyre compounds valid race options, Lowes went for the harder option.

The 31-year old got an excellent start from eighth on the grid, and made early progress through a multi-rider fight.

By the sixth lap, the Englishman was fourth after excellent moves on Aron Canet and Cameron Beaubier.

Lowes’ progress didn’t end there as he passed Marco Bezzecchi for third on lap 16 and posted his personal best lap on the 20th circuit.

No one was faster than Sam in the closing laps and he came home third, just 0.885s off second place.

His fifth podium of the season sees him cement his fourth place in World Championship with 181 points.

“It was nice to back up the win with a podium pace,” Lowes said.

“This was a really important race for me. At Misano it was nice to get the winning feeling back.

"This year has been up and down. I have had one good result then one mistake. So it was nice to back up the win with a podium, especially after the race here in April didn’t go to plan.

"We did a really good job as a team. In the sessions we didn’t look too much at the position, we just worked on the pace, trying to understand the best direction for the race.

"That’s a good sign of the team coming together and me being more confident in myself.

"I can take a lot of confidence from this result. If I qualified higher, maybe it could have been better.

"Overall, I’m satisfied. I have a bit of a score to settle with Valencia after last year’s injury, so, I’m looking forward to that.

"It would be nice to finish the season on a high and we’ll keep working away.”