Mixed conditions on Friday presented challenges for🍨 all WorldSBK riders in Estoril, although Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes explained that the Akashi marque also has concerns in the dry.

The day started wet in Portugal, with FP1 a session which got faster throughout, until several rider𒈔s — including Lowes — crashed in the closin𓂃g minutes.

Lowes explained that, with rain a possibility throughout the weekend, even though the💫 conditions we✱re not ideal in FP1, it was necessary to get experience in anticipation of similar conditions on Saturday and Sunday.

“This morning the conditio🌃ns were really difficult,” Lowes told WorldSBK.com. “Normally, with conditions like this, I wouldn’t be too eager to do many laps, but with changeable weather expected tomorrow, I wanted to get some track time in.

“The track was changing a lot, and some section꧟s were very slippery and difficult to manage. It wasn’t just me struggling with t♏he conditions this morning.”

In comparison to the morning, all the riders were able to get in lap🐻s on slick ty♓res in the afternoon’s FP2 session, although rain cut that dry running short at the end.

The afte🧜rnoon running exposed what Lowes sees as Kawsaki’s 🍨main weakness, especially in the final sector.

“In the afternoon, it was mostly dry,” Lowes said. “This is our first time on this track in a couple of years. I enjoy the layout and it’s a fun track to𒉰 ride an🐼d it’s very fast.

“I think,💫 in the wet, I can fight and in the dry🉐 I can be in the group. We’re struggling a bit in the last sector, especially with the straight here in Estoril, which is a bit of a weakness for us.

“But I’m confident there are parts of the track whe🅷re I’ll be really strong, and I think I can be in the fight.”