Alex Lowes wen👍t fastest in the second practice session on Friday at the World Superbike round.

He sat out the opening morning session due to the wet conditions before bursting to the top of the timesheets in the dry in the afternoꦦon.

With no Toprak Razgatlioglu this weekend due🍎 to injury, and Alvaro Bautista also nursing a knock, the door is ajar for somebody else to claim race victories this weekend in Italy.

Kawasaki rider Lowes pointed out his key area to imp🐟rove for Saturday: “Corner entry on the sꦬlower corners. The corners are quite long, you’re in first and second gear a lot.

“A lot of engine braking. ꦕAfter a few laps, the rear was sliding a lot.

“This is an area where we ca💯n get a better feeling.”

He summed up Friday: “I❀t was a positive day. We missed the first session in damꦚp conditions.

“In the dry in the afternoon, I was able to find the feeling quite fast. I tried a cღoupl✱e of the tyres from Pirelli.

“Overall, it was quite positive.

“Hope✤fully FP3 is dry to check our preferred tyre.

“But they are quite similar - they have slightly different character, one has more 🌟grip on the edge, one is a bit better when you lift the bike up.

“We need to decide which will give us the advantage, 23 laps around any track💎 is a long race.”

Lowes added: “I feel like my race pace sho💧uld be okay. We don’t know.

“Everybody will improve a l🏅ot, and we don’t know this track.

“I’m always able to get down to the♔ lap time🍌s quite fast.

“I’ve got a good team, the guys understand what I need f💯rom the bike.

“So I😼 expect to be strong. How strong? We’ll see.”

He also praised the Cremona circuit for its major improvements since WSBK 🐭riders tested for the first time earli⛎er this year.

“Congratulations🍨 to the guys from the track, they’ve done a fantastic job,” he said.

“It’s like a completely different circuit. They’ve im🧔proved the💧 run-off, the new grandstands are around, the kerbs are great.

“It was a nice surprise.”