Eagle-eyed WorldSBK podium riders spot Ducati’s next Panigale

Sam Lowes was among the riders who spotted Ducati’s next superbike on track at Misano.

Ducati test rider Michele Pirro was putting the Panigale V4R through its paces at the WorldSBK Misano test earlier this week.

It is the machine that Ducati intend to homologate for the 2026 World Superbike Championship.

“I saw Pirro on top of the new bike a little bit,” Lowes said.

“He looked good, and although you can’t see much with how it was painted, I’m looking forward to getting on it at some point.”

Lowes said about his testing: “Nothing massively new that we were trying, obviously there is the new Ducati Panigale V4 R which is coming at some point.

“So this version of the bike is nearing the end of its development cycle.

“We were more focused on the feeling on the bike and the electronics.”

Sam Lowes 'missing something' to battle WorldSBK top two

The ELF Marc VDS Racing Team will enter the Misano round on June 13-15 on a five-race streak of finishing inside the top five.

He is expected to trouble Alvaro Bautista, Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Locatelli for the podium again at Misano.

He was also inside the top five on each day of the Misano test earlier this week.

“It was a positive day; the team did a really good job,” Lowes said.

“We tried a few things, and we have a good direction for the race weekend.

“We’re pretty strong with the race tyre, I’m happy with the pace we have and the lap times we can do. We did a little bit of time with the SCQ tyre at the end and made a small step, but after 88 laps at that point, I was pretty tired.

“It was good to try for the weekend, I feel like right now we’re definitely in the podium fight big time, just missing something to keep up with Bulega and Toprak, who look like they found something on Day 2.

“It’s been a positive test for us, we know where we can improve. We need to analyse a bit more, and now we look towards the race weekend in a positive manner.”