Elf Marc VDS Racing Team rider Sam Lowes closed day one of the Emilia Romagna WorldSBK round in a positive mood after a strong challenge for the top in both free practice sessions at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

Lowes was third quickest this morning in FP1 before missing out on the top three by less than a tenth-of-a-second in the second session on an opening day dominated by Ducati in the Italian factory’s crucial home round.

The first battle for World Championship points in round seven begins with Race 1 at 1530pm local time tomorrow.

/// SAM LOWES: 4th, 1:32.904, 41 laps 

FP1 this morning saw Lowes pick up where he left off at the last round in MotorLand Aragón with an impressive display to finish lead Independent Team rider in third position.

Lowes immediately set a fast pace in the opening 45-minute session and a 1:33.039 on his fifth lap put him in P1 before he concentrated on fine tuning race settings worked on during a recent two-day test at Misano.

With track temperature rising sharply to 48 degrees by the time pit lane opened for FP2, Lowes was once again able to reel off a succession of laps in the low 1:33 bracket, which clearly demonstrates his podium potential going into the race action on Saturday and Sunday.

An impressive late attack ensured Lowes became only the fourth rider on day one to deliver a sub 1:33 lap, with a 1:32.904 on his penultimate lap of the session securing him fourth position overall.

The Briton’s best time was only 0.093s outside of the top three and with clear ideas on where he can gain time tomorrow, Lowes is optimistic he’ll be firmly in the podium hunt over 21 laps in Race 1.

“It’s positive being very close to the top three” 

“It’s always a pleasure and great fun to ride in Misano and we can say the first day was a positive one as we finished very close to the top three. We tested here a few weeks ago and the conditions are different and I need to continue working on adapting to how that is impacting my feeling on the bike. I don’t feel I put everything together today and I was probably riding a little bit too aggressive. The main changes I need to make are from myself, but I’ll work on it and study some data tonight and try to be a bit smoother tomorrow. It’s not going to be easy because it looks like conditions will be even warmer tomorrow but we’re ready for the challenge.”