Elf Marc VDS Racing Team rider Sam Lowes put up a terrific fight in his bid for a memorable podium in front of his home crowd at Donington Park today before crossing the line in Race 1 in fourth position. 

Lowes started and finished the 23-lap encounter in fourth position to power his Ducati Panigale V4R to a 13th top six finish of 2026 in gloriously sunny conditions.

After today’s strong performance, Lowes is now confident he can force his way into the podium battle again in tomorrow’s Superpole Race, which is scheduled to start at 11:10pm local time ahead of the full distance Race 2 at 15:30pm local time.

^{// SAM LOWES: Superpole: 4th Race 1: 4th}

Lowes made a flying start to the Saturday action this morning when he topped the third and final practice session with a stunning lap of 1:24.756 that was just over a tenth-of-a-second away from the Donington Park WorldSBK lap record.

The home crowd hero finished over two-tenths clear of the pack in bright and sunny conditions which set him up perfectly for a front row challenge in the decisive Superpole session.

It proved once again to be an intense fight for the top three spots on the grid and Lowes placed himself firmly in the hunt when he set his best lap of Donington Park with a 1:24.708.

That secured him fourth on the grid in all-Ducati lockout of the top four going into Race 1, which saw Lowes quickly move forward into P3 on the opening lap.

Third until lap nine before being overtaken by the hard charging Yari Montella, Lowes eventually claimed British bragging rights with a determined ride to fend off compatriot Tommy Bridewell by nearly three seconds at the chequered flag.

“I’m confident we can make a step tomorrow” 

“It’s been a solid day and we can take plenty of positives from starting fourth on the grid and finishing fourth in the race. It’s clear though I need to take another step to get myself closer to the podium battle. The factory pair are super strong once again and when Montella passed me, he was riding well and his pace was better than mine. I think fourth was my place today and I was able to make sure I held onto that. Ducati is obviously a very strong package here and I need to try and improve. After the difficult week we’ve all had though, I think what we all needed was a solid day and a decent result and we managed that. I’m confident we can make a step tomorrow and be fighting closer to the front, which would be brilliant in front of my home crowd who have once again given me phenomenal support.”