After having ridden a very strong weekend in the last Motul Hungarian Round, this time out, Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) had a slightly more complicated go of things in 2026. His full-length MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship races at the Balaton Park Circuit were behind blazing podium hat trick pace he displayed at Assen, placing P9 in the opening Race 1, and P6 to close the round, but it was the Tissot Superpole Race’s contact and resulting tech issue which was his biggest story from the round.

After starting on the front row last round at Assen, the #14 was eight tenths off of Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) in pole position to start Race 1 from P6. His grid position would be the best he could hold in the race, as by Lap 4, he had fallen to P14 on account of a double Long Lap Penalty for a Jump Start applied to him by FIM WorldSBK Stewards. He made incremental progress to P16 across the next six laps, but he went to work in earnest on Lap 12, taking a position per lap across the next four laps, and continued his climb to finish in P9.

FAIR PLAY: “Locatelli and Oliveira are always quite aggressive, which I think is quite good, honestly. I like the way they approach it”

Things heated up on Sunday morning in the Tissot Superpole Race, as at lights out, Lowes had worked his way forward to P6 through three corners of the opening lap. As the field compressed on the brakes into Turn 5, Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) led Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) and Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) from P3, and as the #88 was followed wide by Locatelli, the Bimota rider slipped by on the inside past the pair on the change of direction. As they both went to close the door, Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), who had tried to follow his brother through, made contact with Locatelli, sending the Italian down onto the tarmac and his Yamaha R1 bike into Oliveira, who went down as well, culminating in a red flag being waved as he was escorted to the medical centre, and later to a local hospital. Lowes and Locatelli returned to their boxes, where the #14’s team had initially given their bike the all clear, but during the shortened Superpole Race, Lowes saw his result ruined by a faulty gearshift, damaged during the contact, as he finished in P20.

On the Superpole Race crash and his resulting tech issue, Sam Lowes said: “In the first laps, Locatelli and Oliveira are always quite aggressive, which I think is quite good, honestly. I like the way they approach it. ‘Loka’ is always really aggressive. Also, Miguel hit Alex at Turn 2, and was really aggressive when he went deep. I was on my racing line. I couldn’t go any more to the right when I felt the contact. For me, it was a racing incident. I was honestly surprised that ‘Loka’ got a penalty. I think it wasn’t anyone’s fault really; it’s the nature of the track. They were both deep, and when you’re deep on the first laps, and you come back onto the racing line, it’s complicated. It was a bit of a mix of riders wanting the same piece of track at the same time. I really hope Miguel is ok. I like the way they approach the first laps; it's how it should be. After the crash and the restart, the team and I didn’t notice, but we damaged the quick shift and the gear shifter. I didn’t notice it going slow, but when I started to push, I missed a lot of gears, both shifting up and down. I was staying in fourth gear rather than managing to get the gear back. At that point, it was finished. When we got back to the garage, we realised it was bent, and that was that.”

THE HEAT OF BATTLE: “When you’re in the middle of the group fighting, you tend to overheat the front tyre and the front brakes; I just couldn’t get the rhythm”

In the final race of the round, Sam Lowes finished as close to the podium as he would be able to all weekend. Starting from P11 back on the fourth row, Lowes plummeted on the first lap down to P13, and while he made positions back on Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha) on consecutive laps to sit P10 by Lap 3, he found it more difficult to get the most out of his bike while he was having to fight in the pack with the other riders. When his brother Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) crashed on Lap 7, he took his P8 position; improving twice more past fellow Ducati independents Tarran Mackenzie (MGM Optical Express Racing) and Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) to finish in P6, two seconds behind Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team).

On the final race of the round, Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) said: “Race 2 was ok, we had a problem. On Sunday morning in the Superpole Race, we finished, but we were at the back. We started in the middle of the group, and I had a bad start in Race 2. When you’re in the middle of the group fighting, you tend to overheat the front tyre and the front brakes, and I just couldn’t get the rhythm to start with. Towards the end of the race, I wasn’t too bad; I could recover some positions and finish P6, but not our best day. I was happy to bring the bike home and get some points on the board. I feel that when you start at the front, and you can get a rhythm, the bike works differently. When you’re in the group fighting, it’s a more fun race, but it’s not as good for the result.”

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