This year’s WorldSBK Championship reaches the halfway stage this weekend, with Elf Marc VDS Racing Team rider Sam Lowes ready for three days of hot laps and hot weather at the MotorLand Aragón track in Spain 

With temperatures predicted to soar well over 30 degrees, this weekend is sure to provide a tough test both physically and mentally for Lowes at a track where he’s enjoyed great success at in the past.

The action in round six kicks off with FP1 on Friday morning at 1035am local time.

After a difficult Czechia round in Most earlier this month, MotorLand Aragón is the perfect place for Lowes to propel himself back into podium contention at one of his favourite tracks on the WorldSBK calendar.

The Briton comes into this weekend’s action with motivation high and positive feelings with his Ducati Panigale V4R machine after a successful two-day test last week at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

Lowes set the fourth fastest time in Misano during an incredibly intense two days where he completed 175 laps to improve stability under acceleration with a new Ohlins rear shock.

One key area of improvement at the Misano test was improving the 35-year-old’s comfort levels on his V4R machine, which was helped by testing a range of ergonomic settings.

The big gains made at the Misano test mean Lowes is eager to get the action underway in Aragón this weekend where he finished a close third behind Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Bulega in Race 1 last year.

MotorLand brings back many fond memories for Lowes in his career and it was his most successful track when racing in the Moto2 World Championship.

Three of his 10 victories in Moto2 came at the undulating Aragon circuit with a win from pole in 2016 and he was undefeated in a memorable double header encounter in 2020.

“I love Aragón and my main aim is to be back in the podium battle” 

“We had a very positive test at Misano last week and it came at the perfect time for me to get some time to work on a few things we wanted to without the time pressures of a race weekend. We worked a lot on ergonomic changes with the seat and fuel tank, which I felt were very positive and we got to test some other components that were an improvement. We will take all of those changes into this weekend in Aragon and I’m sure they are going to benefit us and help us be competitive. I felt like I’ve gained some momentum back and now it will be important to carry that into this weekend when it really matters in the races. Aragón is a track that I love racing at and I’ve always been strong there throughout my career. The weather looks like it is going to be hot which makes it challenging, but my main aim is to get myself back in the battle for the podium.”