Alex Lowes has confirmed he will test Pirelli’s new SCQ Superpole race tyre duไring the upcoming two-day WorldSBK test at Portimao. 

Lowes, who finished fastest on day-one of last week’s Jerez test - albeit there were only four riders who took part - the one-time WorldSBK race winner was second on day-two as team-mate Jonathan 𓆉Rea went 1.4 seconds quicker. 

Like Rea, Lowes was scheduled to test Pirelli’s new SCQ Superpole and Superpole race tyre ♛during the closing stages of Thursday’s action, however, the 30 year-old ran out of time after a rear modification took longer than expღected to evaluate. 

Instead, the third-year Kawasaki rider will now try the new tyre during the upcoming Portimao test which takes p💫lace on February 8-9. It’s a tes😼t that will also see Yamaha, Ducati and BMW all begin their 2022 WorldSBK preparations.  

"To be honest I really wanted to try that (SCQ tyre) but at the end of the day we were trying a🌜 different modification on the bike," Lowes told the offic🍸ial World Superbike website. "It took a little bit longer than expected so I missed maybe 50 minutes of track time and the plan was to finish with this tyre. 

"I said to my crew chief Marcel [Duinker], it doesn’t feel like I want to push hard on those tyres today, so we scratched that (plan) 𒆙and will wait for Portimao when we have perhaps a bit better rhythm and time." 

Lowes was the Japan🧔ese manufacturer’s only factory r꧙ider in action during the first day at Jerez, however, KRT still used two bikes as former WorldSSP, STK1000, STK600 rider and now coach to Lowes, Florian Marino also tested several new parts that Kawasaki introduced. 

While Marino isn’t Kawasaki’s official test rider, the addꩲed information gꦬathered from riding Rea’s bike is something Lowes believes will help him particularly on race weekends. 

Lowes added: "Flꦚorian was⭕ able to help us with introducing a couple of new things, to try and get them more ready for when me and Jonathan ride. 

"It’s nice to have Florian on the bike. I work with him every weekend as a coach,𝓀 and if he understands the bike a bit more from the experience he gets from riding it, I think he’s going to be able to help me a little bit more. 

"It’s pos𓃲itive for the team to try to help with the testing load and it’s positive for me because I think he can give me some better information on the race weekends."