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Fourth For Lowes In Estoril Opener
Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani completed a damp Superpole qualifying session at Estoril and then faced a dry first race, over 21 laps. Alex was fighting fourth at the checkered flag but a luckless Bassani fell and was unable to restart.
In a wet Superpole session on Saturday morning Alex crashed on the treacherous track surface but got back to the pits. After a medical check on himself and repairs to his machine Alex eventually qualified ninth on the grid, earning himself a third row starting position. Axel found enough pace from his wet set-up to take tenth place on the grid after Superpole, heading up the fourth row.
In the first race itself, held in dry but heavily overcast conditions, Lowes would stay in contention for a podium position until the very end, finishing just under one second from the third placed rider, Iker Lecuona. Alex pushed even harder on the final lap to try and take a podium finish but after a warning from his front end he ran a little wide and took a cool-headed fourth place result.
The 13 points his Race One performance earned helped Alex in his overall championship ambitions, as he has now drawn level with Danilo Petrucci in their fight for fourth place.
Starting from tenth, Bassani was in the leading mix early on but was to fall from eighth place while entering T6, on lap seven. He was uninjured in what was a fast crash as he lost the front under braking.
Now Alex and Axel will have two more Estoril races to compete in, with a ten lap Superpole race on Sunday morning and another 21-lap Race Two in the final afternoon.
