Elf Marc VDS Racing Team star Sam Lowes enjoyed a positive first day in his home WorldSBK round at Donington Park, with the British rider impressing inside the top 10.

• FP1 this morning took place in cool and overcast conditions and it was the first time Lowes has ridden at Donington Park in over a decade and he completed 21 laps to familiarise himself with the technical layout once again.
• A best time of 1:27.904 placed the 33-year-old 14^th on the standings but Lowes improved by the huge margin of over a second in similar conditions in FP2 to leap up five places in the rankings to ninth.
• Lowes ended the day with a best time of 1:26.822 and with the promise of more speed to come tomorrow, hopes are high for a strong display in Superpole at 11am local time tomorrow before Race 1, which is due to start at 2pm.

/// SAM LOWES: 9^th, 1:26.822, 44 laps

“I’m looking forward to putting on a good show for the home crowd”

“Today was a very positive day and it felt great to be riding again in front of the British fans. And it felt great to ride around Donington Park again. I haven’t been here since 2013, so even though I know the circuit, I felt like I needed those first few laps this morning to get familiar with it again and get back up to speed. We did a lot of good work with the set-up today and I was able to find a lot of time this afternoon. I’m sure we can take another step tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to putting on a good show for the home crowd.”