A stunning maiden WorldSBK pole position went unrewarded on a rollercoaster Saturday in Assen for Elf Marc VDS Racing Team star Sam Lowes

Lowes produced one of the best time attack laps of his career in Superpole to top a record-breaking session that placed the high flying Briton on pole position for the first time on board Ducati’s Panigale V4R.

Heartache followed though as Lowes was denied the chance to race for his first WorldSBK podium when a mistake by another rider took him out of top three contention in a dramatic Race 1.

Uninjured in the unlucky incident, Lowes is now determined to turn his undoubted potential into top results when the Superpole race gets underway at 11am local time and Race 2 commences at 2pm tomorrow.

^{/// SAM LOWES: DNF}

Lowes was the star of the show in a record-breaking Superpole this morning when he created a slice of history by posting the fastest ever time by a WorldSBK machine at the iconic Assen track.

The 34-year-old nailed a faultless lap of 1:32.596 to claim his first WorldSBK pole in sensational fashion, with his time nearly half-a-second inside the previous qualifying record in Assen set by reigning World Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu.

A first WorldSBK podium looked on the cards as Lowes starred in a nail-biting scrap for second place that saw just over a second split him, Andrea Locatelli, Razgatlioglu, Alvaro Bautista and Danilo Petrucci with six of 21 laps completed.

As the tension mounted, Lowes was unfortunately taken out of the battle when Bautista crashed at turn nine and the subsequent contact also put the Elf Marc VDS Racing rider into the gravel trap.

“We were fast enough to fight for the podium”

“That was certainly a day where we experienced the full range of emotions. Obviously, I am super happy with my performance in Superpole and to qualify on pole at a track like Assen is such an incredible feeling. Superpole is all about outright speed and we have been improving in that area and today we put together a brilliant lap. I felt we had a great chance in Race 1 to be fighting for the podium but unfortunately I got caught in Alvaro’s mistake. That’s racing and it can happen and I’m not going to criticise anybody. It’s part of the game and people make mistakes. He didn’t mean to do it, and it is what it is. It’s frustrating because if you look at my pace all weekend it has been fast enough for the podium. Today wasn’t meant to be but the team and I have got into a strong position to challenge at the front tomorrow and that’s the target. I’m sure all our hard work will pay off soon.”