Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) is now a MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship polesitter after pulling off a shock P1 in Tissot Superpole at the TT Circuit Assen. He was more than a tenth clear of Championship leader Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) with Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in third for the Pirelli Dutch Round, with the #14 leading away the grid from P1.

THE FIRST RUN: Bulega quickest as lap record is broken

Bulega wasted no time in smashing the lap record as he set a 1’32.760s to claim a provisional pole on his first lap, beating the previous record by two tenths to lead Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) and Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) in the top three, with 12 riders separated by less than a second; with almost four tenths of that coming between first and second. Most riders only managed one hot lap on their first stint.

A MAIDEN POLE: Sam Lowes secures maiden pole in stunning fashion

Bulega was the first rider to head out for his second stint with more than six minutes remaining, with Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) following around a minute later, but he caught Razgatlioglu and Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) who were on out laps and had to back out, showing frustration as he did. Razgatlioglu and Bassani were each applied a three-position penalty by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards for slow riding and will start Race 1 from P6 and P7 respectively.

It was Sam Lowes who stunned with a 1’32.596s to claim a maiden pole position – at the same venue twin brother Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) did in 2018, demoting Bulega to P2 with Razgatlioglu claiming third place to go from the front row. The #14 becomes the 15^th polesitter from Great Britain in WorldSBK and the 72^nd in the Championship’s history.

BEST SINCE 2023: Bassani P4 ahead of Bautista and Locatelli

Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) continued to show his prowess at Assen as he claimed fourth place on the time sheet, the first time he’s qualified as high as P4 since Most in 2023 when he was on Ducati machinery. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) will go from P5 ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) in sixth, with ‘Loka’ just over three tenths away from pole position and continuing to lead Yamaha’s charge.

THIRD ROW START: Petrucci ahead of Gardner and Alex Lowes, Iannone crashes after the flag

Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) will go from seventh ahead of Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in eighth, while Alex Lowes will go from the back of the third row from P9. Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven) will line up from tenth, but he had a dramatic end to the session with a crash at Turn 8 after the session ended with his Panigale V4 R looking very second hand after the crash. Home hero Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) will line up from 13^th, with Iker Lecuona (Honda HRC) in 14^th.

The top six from WorldSBK Superpole, full results here:

1. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) 1’32.596s

2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) +0.164s

3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.219s

4. Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +0.303s

5. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.305s

6. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) +0.363s

Don’t miss Race 1 at 14:00 Local Time (UTC+2) using the WorldSBK VideoPass!