Just five days after the sad passing of founder and owner Marc van der Straten, the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team made an emotional return to action at Donington Park today in the home WorldSBK round for Sam Lowes.

Third quickest in FP1 and sixth fastest overall, Lowes and his Marc VDS crew wore black ribbons and his race number 14 was also black in Marc’s memory.

And prior to the Sunday race action at Donington Park, the close-knit paddock will come together to pay their respects with a minute of applause on the main straight.

Part of the Marc VDS family in Moto2 and WorldSBK family since 2020, Lowes is ready to honour Marc’s memory with a podium challenge when Race 1 commences at 1530pm local time tomorrow.

/// SAM LOWES: 6th, 1:26.026, 45 laps

With the UK gripped by a scorching heatwave as temperatures approached 30 degrees in this morning’s FP1, Lowes was instantly able to set a hot pace and he produced an impressive tally of 11 laps in the 1.26 bracket.

The best of those was a 1:26.026 as the Briton completed an all-Ducati lockout of the top three and in the spectacular fast and sweeping sector two it was Lowes who was quickest.

Roared on by a passionate and sun-drenched home crowd, Lowes was fast and competitive in this afternoon’s FP2 as ambient temperatures soared to a sizzling 31 degrees.

The 35-year-old was once again able to reel off a host of 1.26 laps and his best of 1:26.253 placed him 11^th, with his slightly faster time this morning securing him a strong sixth position on the combined leaderboard.

Lowes was still satisfied with his work in a busy but productive session which ended with him just over 0.2s away from the top five, as he concentrated on race pace rather than the pursuit of a fast lap in time attack mode.

“I shared some great moments with Marc and I’ll miss him”

“This week has been a very emotional one for everybody connected to Elf Marc VDS Racing and I want to send all my strength to Marc’s family and friends after his passing last weekend. I’ve been very fortunate to be part of the VDS family in Moto2 and WorldSBK since 2020, and I’m grateful for the trust and belief he had in me and for the opportunities he gave me. He’s been such a huge part of my career and together we’ve shared some great moments, and I’ll miss him because he was a great character. It’s always awesome to ride at Donington because it is such a cool track and quite different to some of the places we’ve raced at lately. I need to improve in a couple of places but I feel we are in a much better position than where we ended up on the timesheets. The support from the British fans is always super cool and I look forward to doing a good job for them tomorrow.”