Sam Lowes crashes out in Portugal

The Moto2 race got underway in dry conditions at the Algarve International circuit, but rain began falling at the start of the race, making the riders’ job extremely difficult as they were riding on slick tyres.

The rain gradually intensified until the moment the leaders entered turn two on the ninth lap.

Eleven riders crashed in total due to the rain, including Elf Marc VDS Racing Team riders Arbolino and Lowes, who were inside the top nine.

Unfortunately, neither rider could bring their bikes back to pit lane within five minutes, meaning both were ineligible to take to the grid for the restart, which was held over seven laps.

“I crashed so fast that I don’t understand what happened,” said Lincoln’s Lowes.

“It’s not good that they restarted the race with the back of the grid.

"That was a bit strange. I honestly felt quite good in the first race.

"I was taking my time because of the rain but I felt good on the bike.

"Then we came to turn three. I crashed so fast that I don’t understand what happened.

"There were many bikes going either side of me so we were quite lucky.

"But that’s two races in a row where I’ve scored no points.

"It was more because of the situation than my mistake.

"Anyway, we’ll look forward to Jerez, which is a track that I like. This weekend I was a lot more competitive so we can hope to start in a good way.”