Top three for Lowes as WorldSBK 2026 lifts off at Phillip Island
Day one of the 2026 WorldSBK Championship was positive for Sam Lowes as the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team rider set the third fastest time in two Friday Free Practice sessions in Australia
The Briton was a superb second in the opening session of the season before he walked away unhurt from a fast crash at turn one in the 50-minute afternoon outing.
Lowes ended a sunny first day third on the combined standings behind Nicolo Bulega and twin brother Alex ahead of the first Superpole of 2026 at 1pm local time tomorrow before lights out for Race 1 at 4pm.
/// SAM LOWES: 3rd, 1:29.382, 33 laps
After finishing second quickest in the Phillip Island test just a few days ago, Lowes was immediately back in the groove in FP1 and a lap of 1:29.382 on his fifth of 20 laps this morning secured him second place once again.
As air temperatures crept up to a pleasant 22 degrees for FP2, Lowes was looking to cement his status as the top Independent Team rider when an early lap of 1:29.600 put him top of the leaderboard.
Feeling increasingly comfortable on the new 2026 spec Ducati Panigale V4R, Lowes was closing in on his best time of the day when he fired in a lap of 1:29.558 on his 13th lap this afternoon.
It was session over though unfortunately with 20 minutes left on the clock when the 35-year-old suffered a crash at the high-speed first corner.
Lowes was quickly back on his feet and thankfully uninjured and the crash didn’t prevent him from closing out proceedings as top Independent Team rider as he missed out on second spot overall by the narrow margin of only 0.028s.
“We have the pace to be in the podium battle”
“It’s great to finally get the new season started and I have to say the first day had quite a few positives for us. I felt good in FP1 and was happy with the times, so it was a shame to crash in the second session because that cost me some important track time. I’m sorry to the team for that but I was able to do a lot of laps in the 29s and I think that is going to be good enough to put us in the podium battle throughout the weekend. The aim will be to qualify on the first two rows and then make sure we are in the fight for the first podium of the year.”