A brilliant ride into the top six in Race 2 at Hungary’s Balaton Park Circuit ensured Elf Marc VDS Racing Team rider Sam Lowes ended round four in this year’s WorldSBK Championship on a high note

Ninth after serving a double Long Lap penalty for a jump start in Race 1 yesterday and denied the chance to fight for a top result in the Superpole clash by a technical issue this morning, Lowes bounced back in style to claim a hard fought sixth over 21 laps in Race 2.

Lowes remains third in the World Championship standings on 99 points moving to the fifth round of the series at the Most track in the Czech Republic on the weekend of May 15-17.

^{/// SAM LOWES:}
Superpole Race: 20th
Race 2: 6th

Sunday’s race action got off to a dramatic start in the 10-lap Superpole Race battle that was red flagged on the opening lap after an incident at turn six involving Andrea Locatelli and Miguel Oliviera, which Lowes unfortunately found himself caught up in.

Upon further investigation by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards, Lowes was cleared of having any involvement in the cause of the incident, while Locatelli was given a double Long Lap penalty for irresponsible riding to serve when the race restarted over a shortened distance of eight laps.

Immediately after the restart, Lowes began to encounter gear selection issues which became progressively worse and he was unable to properly change gear as a result of damage to his quickshifter sustained in the first part of the race, he quickly dropped out of top six contention to finish in P20.

Determined to bounce back in style in Race 2, Lowes duly obliged and in the early stages he was pitched into an all-Brit battle with Tarran Mackenzie and twin brother Alex before the latter fell out of contention on lap eight.

The 35-year-old moved up the order into seventh on lap 11 and next in his sights was Alberto Surra, who at one stage was over three seconds clear of Lowes.

Lowes pounced to seize sixth position on lap 15 and it was a place he secured quite brilliantly with some impressive late race pace that saw him set his best time of 1:39.488 with three laps remaining.

“We showed our battling qualities”

“Overall, I have to say it was a difficult weekend and certainly not the results that we wanted to leave with. In Race 2, I didn’t get a great start and then didn’t get going for a couple of laps and in WorldSBK these days it is difficult to come forward and make things happen. I dug in though until the last lap and picked up a top six and those points could prove to be very important for the Championship later in the season. It’s fair to say at times this weekend I’ve been a bit unlucky in critical moments, and I think that definitely had an impact on our Sunday. In Race 1 I jumped the start but fought my way back into the top 10 after the penalty and Race 2 was decent. In the longer races I performed pretty well considering where I came from. I didn’t make any big mistakes, and we managed to show our battling qualities. I’m still third in the Championship, so we will focus on the positives and look to get back in that podium fight in Most.”