Sam Lowes' (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship campaign has continued its positive trajectory into Aragon, where the British rider finished third on the combined timesheets. With MotorLand Aragon’s long back straight and long final loop -features that the Ducati Panigale V4 R are suited to- in mind, the #14 independent rider faces down an opportunity to continue taking steps he hopes to carry into 2026.

A FIGHT WITH THE FACTORY: “I’m missing a little bit in the last sector compared to Bulega. They have something extra in that final sector of track”

The #14 has shown blistering speed throughout the season, especially in Superpole sessions. He is the only rider who has sat pole apart from the mercurial rivals Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati). While he candidly admits that he needs another step to be able to fight with them, he is getting himself ready for a battle with his Ducati counterparts.

On his Friday, and forecasts for the weekend to come, Sam Lowes said: “Today was positive, I’m missing a little bit in the last sector compared to Bulega. They have something extra in that final sector of track. He and Toprak are a little bit stronger, but not so far away from us. I think we will be able to battle for the podium. Alvaro will be strong in the last sector and good on the tyres, so this will be the battle: me, Petrucci and Alvaro, maybe in the race we’ll have a bit more, but I’m happy with day one.”

PROGRESS OVER RESULTS: “We’re just trying to do the laps, do the runs, keep the consistent pace work and aim for the podium”

Currently sat in P6 in the WorldSBK Riders’ Championship, 306 points behind Razgatlioglu and 67 points behind Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) in P5, Lowes is unfazed by the dim chances of him being able to climb up to P5 or higher. Instead, Lowes is looking at the rest of this season as an opportunity to build with their package and build coherency with his team to take on 2026 firing on all cylinders.

 On his mindset for the season from here and looking ahead to 2026, Lowes said: “Obviously, next year Toprak is leaving, so it's easier than trying to beat him. For me, at the moment, I was quite strong at Magny-Cours, but we didn’t get any results. It’s not an expectation, we’re just trying to do the laps, do the runs, keep the consistent pace work and aim for the podium. Of course, we have eyes on the podium, where it looks like Nicolo will be the man to beat, but we want to use this time to get as fast as possible.

Catch Sam Lowes on track on Saturday in the WorldSBK Tissot Superpole session at 11:00 (UTC +2) WorldSBK VideoPass! Now just €9.99!