Elf Marc VDS Racing Team rider Sam Lowes enjoyed an impressive opening to the Portuguese WorldSBK round today, with the British star finishing inside the top 10 in both practice sessions at the Algarve International Circuit

Tenth fastest in FP1, Lowes made constant gains throughout the day and he closed out day one finishing ninth overall and just over 0.3s away from the top three.

 Lowes heads into a busy Saturday schedule in confident mood, with Superpole taking place tomorrow at 11am local time ahead of Race 1 which is to get underway at 2pm.

/// SAM LOWES: 9TH, 1:40.860, 27 LAPS

In sunny conditions and pleasant temperatures of 20 degrees for FP1 this morning, Lowes was third quickest in the high-speed final sector and a best time of 1:41.613 placed him 10^th on the timesheets.

Having gained vital data on worn tyres this morning, Lowes was also able to complete a handful of laps on Pirelli’s new development rear tyre in this afternoon’s second session.

The 34-year-old was able to improve by almost 0.8s and his best lap of 1:40.860 put him within striking distance of the top three.

“It’s been a positive day and we know we can be stronger”

“We can be happy with how the weekend has started because the track conditions were quite different compared to the recent test. This morning we just used one set of tyres, and I was able to set my fastest lap right at the end, so that’s very positive. Unfortunately, this afternoon we had a small issue which came at the moment when I was feeling really good on the bike and was in a good rhythm. My crew did an amazing job to get me back out at the end so I could get in a couple of laps on the new Pirelli development tyre. My main focus for tomorrow is to find more time in sector one and be more consistent in the third split but I’m sure we can be competitive. We are doing a good job, but it looks like a few of us have very similar pace, so it means we have to be ready to perform well in Superpole to get a good grid position.”