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Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) secured a hat-trick of podium finishes at the TT Circuit Assen, the first time the #14 has achieved this since joining the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship paddock. The Independent Ducati rider claimed three P3 finishes during the Pirelli Dutch Round, his strongest round of the 2026 season following a big crash in Australia and racing while still recovering from a wrist injury at Portimao.

After claiming P2 in Saturday morning’s Tissot Superpole session, the Lincoln-born rider battled with the factory Ducati riders of Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) and his teammate Iker Lecuona in Race 1, particularly when rain started to fall. Prior to the moisture on track, on Lap 14, Lowes had fallen as far as five seconds back, but by the subsequent lap, he had cut that in half, Lap 16 nearly in half again to 1.3s, by Lap 17 it was half a second, all the way down to just two tenths on Lap 18. That would prove to be the closest he got, but with the rest of the field far behind, he rode with pride onto the podium for his first rostrum result of the season.

The Tissot Superpole Race was another strong jump off the line; the factory pair were on another level as they ran away with the race, building a gap of more than two seconds by Lap 3. Race 2 was the real meat and potatoes of the Englishman’s weekend, as he fired off the line at the race’s start to lead for the first time this season, holding P1 for the first two laps of the season. His flying first two laps come as two out of only ten laps that Bulega hasn’t led so far this season. While he went on to finish five seconds out of P1, for the third time on the weekend, Lowes was the third fastest rider, taking his first ever WorldSBK triple.

A TIDY TRIPLE: “I wanted to finish the race off well and finish in a nice way”

On his Sunday at Assen, Sam Lowes said: “I think Bulega made quite the step on Sunday, Iker a bit less, but I’m happy to be fighting with them, everyone knows they’re the reference at the minute, bike-wise and team-wise. We’re happy to be close. It’s a good track for Ducati, but I’m the only one who’s managing to be close and even qualify ahead of one of them. I’m really happy with that. I was cautious and wanted to finish Race 2 well. I wanted to finish the race off well and finish in a nice way.”

KEEPING ON THE GRIND: “I’m just going to keep focusing on trying to catch the factory pair”

Now in his third WorldSBK season, Sam Lowes's jump from the start of his 2024 season to the start of this one is night and day. In the 2024 campaign, he didn’t manage any podiums and crashed a lofty nine times. Across 2025, he showed promising signs, earning his first podium at Assen, and by the second half of the season, the #14 bike was practically a fixture in the fight at the front. Now achieving real tangible success, such as this time around at Assen, the real question for him is what can he do to close the gap to Bulega in front?

On his season so far, Sam Lowes said: “The last six races have been good! All the other races except the mistake in the rain at Phillip Island, I’ve finished all the other races this year, which has put us in a good position. We’ll keep working hard. Last year, I didn’t finish quite how I wanted, so it’s been nice to hit the ground running already in round three with three podiums and some good tracks coming up. Let’s hope that in the next races, there are a few people who are a bit closer so we can enjoy some closer racing, but I’m just going to keep focusing on trying to catch the factory pair.”

Catch Sam Lowes next round at Balaton! Watch live or OnDemand with the WorldSBK VideoPass!