Castrol Honda rider, Alex Lowes, set the 15th fastest time in today’s opening qualifying session for Sunday’s ninth round World Superbike championship races at Silverstone in the UK.

Standing in for injured regular, Jonathan Rea, Lowes comes to Silverstone fresh from a two-day test last week with the team at Assen in the Netherlands. The 20-year-old from Lincolnshire used today’s two sessions to knock over a second off his best time at the 5.902km Silverstone circuit.

Lowes’s team-mate for this weekend, Fabrizio Lai – himself a late replacement for the injured Ruben Xaus – was content with his own progress today having been given just 48hrs notice to prepare for the event.

Lai spent much of today learning the Silverstone circuit and adapting to the Castrol Honda machine, which differs considerably from the CBR1000RR that he rides in the Italian Superbike series.

Alex Lowes – P15 2m06.740s

I had a little tip-off this morning, mainly because I got a bit excited, but I’m pretty happy with how things went today. I’ve learned a lot and the bike’s been mega, although we just need to work a bit on improving the feeling at the front. But it’s letting me finish the corners a lot better, and I’ve improved my lines in a lot of areas. We’ll make another step-up tomorrow and hopefully get a bit higher.

Fabrizio Lai – P21 2m07.661s

I’m quite happy because it was my first time at Silverstone today. I looked at the time-sheet after free practice this morning and was not surprised to be almost three seconds off, but we have improved that this afternoon. I followed some faster riders in free practice and learned the lines better, which allowed me to go faster. I did not follow anyone this afternoon, but I think I can definitely learn some more tomorrow. I also got used to the different settings on the CBR. The power is much more and the throttle response much faster, but I like it very much!

2011 World Superbike championship, round nine – Silverstone, UK
First qualifying results:

1 Carlos Checa (ESP) Ducati 2m05.477s
2 Maxime Berger (FRA) Ductai 2m05.870s
3 Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki 2m05.899s
4 Leon Camier (GBR) Aprilia 2m05.937s
15 Alex Lowes (GBR) Castrol Honda 2m06.740s
21 Fabrizio Lai (ITA) Castrol Honda 2m07.661s