Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) outlined his podium targets at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve as the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship field prepares to take on the famous rollercoaster. The #14 is still managing a left wrist injury but he topped both Free Practice 1 and 2 for the Pirelli Portuguese Round as he showed his potential – but revealed he may have to ‘manage’ his race over a longer distance.

The Brit came off his bike at Phillip Island in a wet Race 2 through Turn 3, which left him with two fractures to his left wrist. Although surgery wasn’t required, Lowes has been recovering at home and training as best as he can, while he also took part in a recent Portimao test where he was rapid. Since then, his injury has been able to spend another couple of weeks healing, and he provided an update on how it felt after he completed 32 laps on Friday; for comparison, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) completed 35 and the Pata Maxus Yamaha duo of Xavi Vierge and Andrea Locatelli did the most laps, with 40 each.

Explaining how his wrist felt, Lowes said: “It’s not bad, honestly. I didn’t expect to feel like this from the Sunday night of Phillip Island to today. I expected more pain; the pain is not bad. Just the strength is not amazing so after some laps, I’m struggling a little bit to maintain the pace. I expected it to be worse so I’m happy with the steps that we’re making, and it was a positive feeling for the wrist, but I’d like it to be a bit better!”

Despite still nursing the injury, Lowes was fastest in both FP1 and FP2. In the morning 45-minute session, he set a 1’40.287s as he claimed P1 while he improved his time by three tenths in FP2. His 1’39.941s was the only time in the 1’39s bracket. His longest stint of the day came in the afternoon session when he did seven consecutive laps. However, the times weren’t particularly consistent, and there were two cancelled laps due to yellow flags in there.

Reflecting on his Friday, Lowes stated: “Obviously, this track’s really good for our bike and Ducati. It suits us a lot. We did the test here and we have a bit of an advantage, I guess. The pace was good. I had nice track position and towed a little bit off Alex, so that was nice! I was quite fast. In FP1, with the same tyre, I did a 1’40.2 which is good. I just need to manage a few things in the last 6-8 laps; if I can stay there, I think I can fight for something nice. I think if I was fully fit, and improve some points of my riding, I could be closer to Bulega. With how I’m feeling, it’s more realistic to be calm, try to manage and try to fight for the podium.”

Can Lowes fight for the rostrum on Saturday at Portimao? Find out using the WorldSBK VideoPass!