Sam Lowes and the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team embark on an exciting adventure this weekend when the WorldSBK Championship races for the first time at the new Balaton Park Circuit in Hungary

WorldSBK visits Hungary for the first time since 1990 when Lowes takes on the challenge of the 4.075km Balaton Park Circuit, which hosts the eighth round of 12 this season before the long summer break.

Action at the state-of-the-art facility that was completed in May 2023 gets underway at 1020am local time on Friday morning.

Lowes arrives in Hungary looking to convert the superb speed he showed throughout his home round at Donington Park earlier this month into top results at the tight and twisty Balaton Park Circuit.

A sensational third place in the Superpole race in the UK round showed once again the great strides Lowes has made on board the Ducati Panigale V4R machine in the opening half of the 2025 campaign.

But Lowes is hungry for more success, and the British star is optimistic that this weekend’s action, which takes place close to the scenic splendour of Lake Balaton, represents a great chance for him to be fighting for the podium again.

Lowes has ridden a production superbike at Balaton Park previously to acquaint himself with the 17-corner layout but now the main focus will be quickly getting up to speed in full racing spec to consolidate his place in the top six in the standings.

“It’s always cool to race in a new country”

“I’m really looking forward to this weekend and racing in Hungary for the first time because it is always cool to race in a new country at a new track. I rode a standard road bike there recently and the layout was interesting. It was good fun to ride with lots of overtaking points. As always when you go to a new track it is all about trying to learn the layout and get up to speed as fast as possible. Qualifying is going to be super important this weekend too because it is quite a small track with a lot of tight corners. That’s fine for overtaking but it is going to be important in the first couple of laps to be near the front. My home round at Donington didn’t go as planned in a lot of ways but we had really good speed and managed to get a podium and hopefully I can bring that speed into Hungary.”