Elf Marc VDS Racing Team rider Sam Lowes enjoyed his best Sunday so far in the WorldSBK Championship, as the British star impressed with a maiden top six in Race 2 after a superb seventh in the Superpole clash in Assen today.

• Bitterly cold conditions and a damp surface from yesterday’s heavy rain meant Lowes preferred to skip this morning’s Warm Up session ahead of the 10-lap Superpole race, which started with the Briton launching away from fourth on the grid.
• The Superpole race commenced on a dry surface and Lowes powered to his best result so far in the short format after coming out on top of an exciting late battle with Michael van der Mark and Toprak Razgatlioglu to finish seventh. Lowes took the chequered flag as the leading Independent rider.
• The 33-year-old was a prominent figure in yet another nail-biting battle in Race 2, with rain spots falling just before the halfway stage to further ramp up the tension. Lowes rode superbly to fend off Dominique Aegerter and Nicolo Bulega for sixth place and he was only five seconds off the win in a thrilling race over 21 laps.

/// SAM LOWES:  Superpole Race: 7^th /  Race 2: 6^th

“My first top six shows we are making progress”

“Today has been very positive because we scored strong results in challenging conditions and collected some decent points for the Championship. It felt a good way to quickly the forget the disappointment of yesterday when the conditions were really tricky. This afternoon I was the only rider to go with the new Pirelli SCX rear tyre and I think it was the correct choice. I’m happy with how I managed the race because I took my time at the beginning and paced myself so I could be fast and competitive at the end. In Barcelona, I was very fast at the beginning but lost pace towards the end and dropped back, but it was clear today that I paced myself a lot better and that shows we are all learning from experience. This weekend wasn’t easy with such limited dry track time but again it was another very important learning experience for me and the team. We can take away a lot of positives and my first top six shows we are making the progress we want. I qualified fourth, felt strong in the full wet conditions and was competitive in the dry, so I want to say a big thanks to the team for their great work all weekend. We have a break now until the next round in Misano, but we will be out testing and trying to improve my feeling on the bike.”