Sam Lowes and the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team head into this weekend’s Cremona WorldSBK round brimming with confidence after the Briton’s sensational performance in Assen last month

Lowes claimed a maiden WorldSBK pole position and podium in the Netherlands and he’s looking forward to capitalising on the momentum gained when the field take to the track for round four of this year’s series in Italy.

This is just the second visit to the 3.7km Cremona circuit for the WorldSBK paddock and the action gets underway at 1020am local time on Friday morning with FP1.

The 34-year-old is hoping to ride the crest of a wave once again in Cremona after he topped qualifying and finished on the podium in the Superpole race in a breakthrough weekend at the legendary Assen track.

Lowes was also in the hunt for the podium in thrilling Race 1 and Race 2 battles in Assen, so expectation is sky high that he can be a main protagonist once again on board the Ducati Panigale V4R.

Lowes qualified in a strong sixth position on his Cremona debut last September and scored a weekend best of 11^th in the 23-lap Race 2.

“We have high expectations for this weekend”

“I’m excited to be going back to Cremona because it was cool to race at a new track last year. I managed to qualify top six last time but the races didn’t go as well I hoped, but I feel this weekend is going to be completely different. We had a fantastic weekend in Assen, which gave everybody a huge boost, and now it is going to be important to make sure we carry that momentum going. Our performance in Assen means we have high expectations for this weekend and I’m looking to once again be fighting in that top group and hopefully we can come away with some top five finishes.”