After a tough Superpole session at Magny-Cours, Elf Marc VDS Racing Team star Sam Lowes put together an impressive fightback before suffering an unfortunate late fall in tough conditions in Race 1.

• Considering this is Sam’s return from a left shoulder injury sustained in July, the Briton decided to sit out the morning FP3 session, which was held in treacherous, wet conditions.
• Conditions had worsened for Superpole. With rain intensifying, the 4.411km Magny-Cours layout needed to be tackled with caution and wet tyres. The 33-year old had his fastest lap time cancelled before a Turn 15 spill meant he could only set a time good enough for 20^th on the grid.
• Race 1 was held in fully wet conditions. The track was slippery throughout with just 12 riders managing to finish. After a solid start from the 7^th row, Sam was sitting as high at 9^th before he suffered an unfortunate crash at Turn 5 on lap 18 of 21.

“It was really tricky out there”

“It was a terrible day here in France. I lost my lap in qualifying and then crashed out soon after. The conditions here today were obviously really difficult. When more than half the grid crashes in Race 1, and some of them get back on and crash again, you know that it was really tricky out there. We had a few issues in the race and it’s unfortunate to go down at the end. We’ll try and do better tomorrow. My shoulder’s obviously quite sore at the moment but I don’t feel I’ve made it any worse so we’ll just keep working away and go again tomorrow. As always, thanks to the team for all their hard work today.”