Alex Lowes and the Bimota were the fastest on the final day of Superbike testing at Jerez. In fact, the British rider set the day's benchmark in 1'37.824, preceding Vierge (Yamaha) by two tenths.
The balance is certainly positive, but at the same time Alex wants to keep his feet firmly planted on the ground, given that Ducati was missing in Jerez and other teams such as Honda and BMW were fielding new riders.
"I think it was a good solid and productive day," he stated, "obviously you have to avoid hasty judgments. Here in Jerez there were in fact several helmet changes among the riders and Ducati was also missing. Compared to the last race, however, we were able to improve. How much? I don't know yet. We certainly worked on improving confidence on the bike, as well as searching for the right set-up and balance."
Alex, there is a lot of anticipation about 2026....
"The goal is to be in the top three in the World Championship. Unfortunately this year I threw away two rounds, namely Portimao and Donington, in fact I am disappointed about that. Personally I would like to make sure that next season is my best season ever. Obviously Bulega is very strong and the new Ducati is a step ahead, so they are the favorites. At the same time, let's not forget about Bautista and my brother Sam."
Many observers argue that Bulega has already won and that 2026 could be boring...
"Nicolò is a fantastic rider, but at the same time so is the bike he rides on, which is the Ducati. During the last season, my brother Sam showed that he could be closer to him, despite not being in the factory team, plus his Ducati was not the same as Nicolò's. Obviously Sam's team is very good, outstanding, but it's not the factory team. I don't think Bulega is on one side and all the other riders are on the other side. Certainly Nicolò is very strong, but I am of the opinion that he will not win all the races, although he remains the favorite."
Alex were you surprised by what Toprak and Nicolò did in the Valencia tests?
"No, because I remember when I raced in MotoGP a few years ago, there were some riders in our world who were better than anyone else. Marc in those days, he was one of them, while the other riders more or less equalled each other. In my opinion there were 30 riders who were more or less similar to each other and 5, 6 or 7 who are on another level, who made the difference. Toprak is at that level and maybe Nicolò is too. Back in the day Bulega was great, then he lost his way a little bit. But Morbidelli, for example, or the other riders he has raced with all his life, are not that much ahead of him. That's exactly why I'm happy with what both of them did in Valencia. There are many great riders here and people forget quickly."
What do you expect from Toprak?
"Personally, I hope Toprak does well and that Nicolò does a good job as a test rider, because I think he is a MotoGP rider because of the way he rides the bike. He brakes so smoothly and is really good to watch. Toprak, on the other hand, has many other different qualities. They're quite different, but they're both very fast and I think they're both in the top 10 riders in the world. So, they could be in MotoGP. That doesn't mean they should be there or that they will be there, because there are many things that have to work well. I hope they will do well, though, also because they are great guys."