Sam Lowes feels the heat at Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit

Sam Lowes claimed a 10th place finish at the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit.

Issues transporting freight to the venue in northern Argentina led to a revised weekend schedule, giving the Moto2 field just 135 minutes of track time before Sunday’s race.

The Elf Marc VDS Racing rider and teammate Tony Arbolino, who finished sixth, and endured the hottest conditions of the weekend in Sunday’s 23-lap race, with track temperatures of 42 degrees making rear tyre management key.

It was a tough start for Lincoln;'s Lowes as he struggled with rear grip on through Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit’s left turns in the first half of the race.

The 31-year old started to feel more comfortable as the race progressed, and set a series of personal best laps in the race’s finale as he climbed from twelfth to 10th position.

The Briton finished 14s behind the race winner.

The result sees Lowes drop to fifth in the World Championship with 35 points, 35 behind leader Celestino Vietti.

“I didn’t have the same feeling as this morning,” Lowes said.

“It was a difficult race for us. It wasn’t what we expected.

"I didn’t have the same feeling as this morning in the first laps. It was a difficult weekend.

"I’m happy to get six points and have something to go to America with but this wasn’t what we were after.

"The feeling in some sessions was really good, my pace was really good.

"In the race the grip was inconsistent for me between the left and the right turns so this is something we need to understand and improve.

"We know what we can do. I just want to say a big thank you to the team for the big job this weekend.

"They’ve done a lot of work. Sorry to them I couldn’t score more points but it’s better than a zero.

"We’ll go to Austin to fight back on the podium and keep working.”