Sam Lowes once again showed his tremendous potential at the Portuguese World Superbike round, where he topped both FP1 and FP2.

Sam Lowes topped FP1 by 0.004s on Friday morning, and had 0.247s in hand at the close of the afternoon session.

While brilliantly fast over a flying lap, Sam is hopeful some tweaks to his riding position can help him feel more comfortable over a full race distance.

/// SAM LOWES: 1^st, 1’39.941, 32 laps

Lowes was unfortunate to miss some early track time in FP1 this morning due to an electrical problem, but once he was unleashed on the 4.59km Portimao track he produced a brilliant display to close out the opening session in P1.

The 35-year-old completed 13 laps this morning and saved his best for last, with a stunning late charge of 1:40.287 putting him into first position by just 0.004s ahead of WorldSBK Championship leader Nicolo Bulega.

That put the Briton almost half-a-second clear of the next quickest Independent Team rider heading into the afternoon FP2 session, which took place in ambient temperatures of 21 degrees.

Eager to further understand how well the left hand and wrist fractures suffered Australia’s season opener last month have recovered after an intense month-long rehab, Lowes completed 19 laps over three separate runs in FP2.

Although he doesn’t quite feel at full strength over longer runs, Sam showed brilliant speed at the close of the session. His fastest lap of 1’39.941 was enough to sit 0.247s ahead of Nicolo Bulega at the end of play.

“A really positive day – I managed to improve some points where I was struggling before”

“It was a productive day. We lost a bit of time in the morning, which was a shame. But in the end, it was a really positive day here in Portugal. I managed to improve some points where I was struggling before. It was nice to do that lap time at the end of FP2. I feel like I’m missing a bit of pace for the full race distance. I need to have a good sleep tonight so I can manage it well tomorrow. It’s obviously a little disappointing and frustrating to have this injury now because I have good speed. It’d be nice to have a better chance to fight over the full race distance. But we have another session to work in the morning and understand if we can improve some areas. So, let’s see. But it’s been a good day. We can analyse some bits tonight and try and work with the guys, change my position on the bike to see if that can help me a bit. We’ll keep plodding along and I’m ready to give it everything in tomorrow’s race!”