Sam Lowes showed seriously impressive grit to collect an excellent fifth place in Race 1 at the Algarve International Circuit.

Lowes was able to qualify 5th despite not feeling as strong as Friday and then went on to finish in the same position in Race 1.

Lowes is delighted with the feeling with his Ducati Panigale V4 and confident of repeating today’s heroic feats in Sunday’s two races.

^{// SAM LOWES: Superpole: 5th, Race 1: 5th} 

Fastest in both of Friday’s sessions at the spectacular, undulating Portuguese track, Sam noticed he didn’t feel quite as physically strong as the previous day in FP3. Even still, he was 5th fastest, 0.6s back of pace setter Iker Lecuona.

In a red-hot Superpole session, Sam once again found himself in 5th place thanks to a lap time of 1’39.090, which was just 0.009s off last year’s lap record. Pole sitter Nicolo Bulega set a new benchmark of 1’38.495.

Race 1 was always going to be a big ask for the 35-year old, as he hadn’t completed more than seven consecutive laps due to the two bones he broke in Australia.

Yet the Briton showed plenty of that trademark grit as he started the 20-lap race. After losing two places on the first lap, Sam remained calm and paced himself over the race distance.

That soon paid off. By lap 5 he had passed Xavi Vierge to sit 5th and was able to maintain that position until the chequered flag. Even more impressive was the fact Sam was the first Independent finisher.

“I’d have definitely accepted a P5 if you offered it to me on the grid”

“Honestly, I didn’t have as much speed today as I thought I’d have. Even in FP3 I was a little bit off compared to yesterday. We had a few issues in qualifying so I’m quite happy to be starting from P5. Then in the race I surprised myself. The longest run I’d done before then was six or seven laps – and that was with one or two slow laps included. I knew the race was going to be a big ask. But I dug deep. I tried hard to breathe well, relax and ride into the race. It was good. I’d have definitely accepted a P5 if you offered it to me on the grid. OK, it’s not where we want to be but it wasn’t long ago that I was flying back from Phillip Island with two broken bones. Even though it was four weeks ago, that’s not a lot. And here is one of the hardest tracks in terms of how physical it is. It was positive. I’m proud of what we did. I think the team are doing a really good job with the bike. We’re understanding this new bike more and more. There’s a lot more to come. Like I said, I felt worse this morning than yesterday so I need to see how I’m feeling tomorrow. I’m obviously not expecting to feel better. But if I can maintain the level of today, I think we can do two solid rides. I don’t want to expect too much. I think the podium’s a big ask, especially in the longer race. But let’s see how we feel when we wake up tomorrow.”