The Elf Marc VDS Racing Team kicked off the final round of its debut season in the WorldSBK Championship in brilliant fashion today, with Sam Lowes ending the opening day of practice at the Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto in 10^th spot.

• Returning to the Jerez track where he was victorious twice in his Moto2 career, the British rider was immediately able to set a competitive pace in this morning’s FP1 session and an impressive time of 1:40.347 placed Lowes in a confidence boosting sixth position.
• After completing 20 laps in FP1, Lowes was busy once again in the second session and in an additional 20 lap stint this afternoon, he was able to improve by over three-tenths-of-a-second to finish 10^th overall.
• The 34-year-old was firmly in the mix once again and his 1:40.036 was less than 0.1s away from the top six, with today’s superb performance showing Lowes has great potential in Superpole at 11am local time tomorrow before Race 1 gets underway at 2pm.

/// SAM LOWES: 10^th, 1:40.036, 40 laps

“It’s nice to be close to the best times again”

“It has been a positive day and a good way to start the final round of the season. We encountered some issues but worked hard to improve and I felt competitive both this morning and in the afternoon. The grip was low considering we are in Jerez where the grip is usually very good at this time of the year. But overall it was a solid first day and we have clear and good direction for tomorrow. We can improve a bit with engine braking to help stop the bike but I’m happy as it’s nice to be in the mix again and close to the best times. Let’s hope we can continue like this and see where we can be tomorrow.”