GNS Racing's Sam Lowes put in an excellent ride at Silverstone yesterday when he finished in tenth place in the British round of the World Supersport Championship.

Competing as a wild card at the event, Sam, from Lincoln, and the Southampton-based team improved their pace throughout the weekend as they got used to both the World Championship competition and the different specification Pirelli tyres and were rewarded with a brilliant top ten finish, no mean feat for the team in their first ever World Championship race.

Despite suffering a heavy crash in Friday's practice session, Sam qualified in a strong 17th place right behind regular British Supersport Championship rivals James Westmoreland and Billy McConnell but the original race was red flagged due to an incident involving Championship contender Joan Lascorz and Roberto Tamburini.

A good start by Sam in the restart saw him jump up to 13th place at the end of the first lap and two laps later he was up to 11th and on the threshold of the top ten as he overhauled regular World Championship riders Mark Aitchison and Fabien Foret. By lap five he had broken into the top ten having passed another former race winner Katsuaki Fujiwara, also setting what would prove to be the eighth fastest lap of the race.

At half race distance, Sam was challenging David Salom for ninth and for the next few laps enjoyed a tussle with the Spaniard as well as regular sparring partner Westmoreland and Fujiwara. Salom was the quicker of the quartet and got by Sam on the tenth lap but the 19-year-old stuck with him and the pair edged away from the group of riders behind. Salom continued to pull clear and eventually took eighth but Sam was secure in tenth and only just missed out on taking ninth from Massimo Roccoli at the end of the hard-fought 16 laps.


Sam Lowes:

"To get a good result in a race like that was spot on and to get eighth fastest lap shows just how much we worked over the weekend. I was on the back foot after crashing on Friday but then we turned it around and I got a good set up for the race and knew we would be strong in the race and we came good. We proved that we can do it on the World stage. I'd like to say a big thank you to the team for the opportunity and we're looking forward to Brands Hatch next weekend and to maintain our lead in the Fuchs-Silkolene British Supersport Championship."

Gary Stubbington:

"To finish in tenth place in our very first World Championship race is absolutely awesome, especially as we had to overcome all manner of problems. The big crash on Friday set us back a bit and it was a real challenge to get used to the tyres and getting the suspension to work with them but everyone involved with the team did a phenomenal job all weekend and it was an absolute pleasure to see them being rewarded with such a strong race result. Sam's race pace would have been good enough for the second row of the grid and I really cannot have asked for anything more from anyone. We're only a small team from Southampton but seeing how we've grown and developed over the course of the season is a real testament to everyone's hard work and efforts and we're all really happy and confident for the rest of the year so long may it continue!"

Race Result

1, E Laverty (Honda)
2, K Sofuoglu (Honda) +0.220s
3, G Rea (Honda) +12.451s
4, C Davies (Triumph) +13.683s
5, R Harms (Honda) +13.839s
6, M Praia (Honda) +15.699s
7, M Lagrive (Triumph) +16.709s
8, D Salom (Triumph) +17.593s
9, M Roccoli (Honda) +22.837s
10, S Lowes (GNS Honda Racing) +23.092s