Britain’s Alex Lowes is excited ahead of this weekend’s Brno round of the Superbike World Championship, where he’ll be standing in for the injured Jonathan Rea at Castrol Honda.

Lowes, from Lincoln in the east of the United Kingdom, has raced at the 5.4km Brno circuit during his time in European Superstock championships two years ago, but this will be his first outing on a full SBK-specification Castrol Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade producing more than 215bhp.

“After the British Superbike race weekend just gone, I’m happy to be able to focus 100 percent on Brno now and I can’t wait to get on the bike there,” Lowes said. “I went to the team workshop last week and the guys made me feel really relaxed and welcome and went through a circuit map with me to discuss the gearing and other settings that Jonathan used last year.

“I also tried the bike for size, but really didn’t change anything except lowering the front brake lever a little and adding a thumb lever for the rear brake. I’ll walk the track with the guys when I get to Brno and then just aim to keep improving in every session over the weekend.

“It’s difficult to know what to expect in the way of results until I get out there, but my aim is simply to enjoy myself, work hard and do the best that I can to make the most of this chance.”

The 20-year-old began the season in the British Superbike championship campaigning an Evo-specification CBR that carries a virtually stock engine and does not feature the sophisticated electronics of the SBK machine.

However, Lowes showed that he could compete with other riders on full specification Superbikes – performances that brought his talent to the attention of many, including the Castrol Honda World Superbike team, and resulted last month in him taking over the British Superbike ride of the injured Stuart Easton.