The Elf Marc VDS Racing Team gets the second half of the 2026 WorldSBK Championship underway this weekend with the Emilia Romagna round taking place on Italy’s Adriatic Coast at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. 

Sam Lowes lands in Misano brimming with confidence after a stunning performance last time out at MotorLand Aragón in Spain saw him claim his second podium treble this season.

A strong challenge for the top three is once again the clear objective going into round seven, which commences at 1020am local time on Friday with FP1.

Three brilliant third place finishes in last month’s Aragón round injected major momentum back into the Briton’s campaign as he surged from fifth to third in the overall standings.

Lowes has good reason to bring plenty of optimism and confidence into the Emilia Romagna clash this weekend after he was fourth quickest and fast and consistent during a recent two-day test at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

The 35-year-old completed 175 laps at the Misano test and was only two-thousandths-of-a-second outside of the top three as Ducati dominated the action on home turf by locking out the top five places.

Lowes has enjoyed success previously at Misano and one of his 10 victories in the Moto2 World Championship came from pole position in 2021.

He finished both full-length feature races last year in Misano in seventh position with a best of sixth in the Superpole Race, but Lowes is aiming higher this weekend to give himself a big boost before his home round at Donington Park in mid-July.

“I feel strong after a positive Aragón round” 

“I’m really looking forward to Misano this weekend because we had a very good test there last month. And I’m feeling strong after the positive weekend we had in Aragon. Misano is a track that is very important to me and I’ve had some success there in the past with my win in Moto2. And I have very strong family connections to that place and it feels like a second home to me. I really enjoy riding at this track and I’m going to try and improve in the first part, which we highlighted as the area I need to take a step when we tested a few weeks ago. If we can find time in that part of the track I’m confident we can have another very strong weekend. I had a great weekend in Aragon and it is going to be important to back that up to take some confidence and momentum to Donington, which is obviously a huge weekend for me in fromt of my home crowd.”