Wet and windy conditions have dominated a two-day WorldSBK test for Elf Marc VDS Racing Team rider Sam Lowes at the spectacular Algarve International Circuit in Portugal

After poor weather disrupted the first track action of 2025 at Jerez in southern Spain last week, history repeated itself unfortunately in Portimao and the only meaningful track time available to Lowes was on the opening afternoon when he completed 56 laps.

Next on the agenda for the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team is the final pre-season test session at Phillip Island next month ahead of the opening WorldSBK race action of the season in Australia on the weekend of February 22-23.

/// SAM LOWES: 9TH, 1:41.580, 56 LAPS

After a damp start to the opening day, Lowes was able to complete 56 laps in windy conditions and a best lap of 1:41.580 placed him ninth on timesheets led by reigning World Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Conditions might have been far from perfect, but Lowes was still able to carry out valuable front suspension testing while also experimenting with electronics settings to improve performance on worn tyres.

Lowes was readying himself for a busy session of set-up work on day two when heavy rain started to fall on the 4.59km track and the decision was taken not to ride.

“We’ve done some positive work despite the conditions”

“Winter testing in January in Europe is a bit of a gamble but we’ve certainly been unlucky to have tricky conditions in both Jerez and Portimao. Day one here in Portugal was tough. I need the experience of riding the bike in the rain but when it is wet and windy, it isn’t worth taking the risk. It’s hard to compare things on the bike and work on the settings in windy conditions and easy to go in the wrong direction. But once the track was dry it turned out to be a positive test. We tried some front fork settings which I felt was a good step and we will continue in that direction. My race pace was solid, but the conditions meant the lap times were slower than normal for everybody. I only tried one soft tyre at the end and had decent pace but on used tyres I felt strong and better than last year in that area with some steps we’ve made with the electronics. Unfortunately, the rain came on day two and stopped us from riding. Going to Australia with only two half days of testing completed is not ideal but it’s the same for everybody. And we have two days testing at Phillip Island before the race weekend which is going to be very important. I’m looking forward to it and despite the bad weather in Jerez and Portimao we’ve done some positive work.”