Alex Lowes reveals 2026 WorldSBK motivation: “He’s going to be a pain in my ***!”
Sam Lowes will “be a pain in my ass” in the 2026 WorldSBK season, says Alex Lowes.
Alex Lowes says his brother, Sam Lowes, is “going to be a pain in my ass” in the 2026 WorldSBK season.
The Lowes brothers have both lined up on the World Superbike grid since the Marc VDS Ducati team signed Sam Lowes for the 2024 season, meaning 2026 will be their third competing against each other.
Sam Lowes’ late move to WorldSBK, aged 33 at the start of the 2024 season, came after a long career in Moto2 that began in 2014, when Alex Lowes first moved to World Superbike from BSB.
Their careers have thus been very different, but both proved to be podium contenders in 2025, Marc VDS’s Sam Lowes taking five rostrum finishes and Bimota’s Alex Lowes clinching four podiums.
None of those podiums were taken together, however, and this is something that Alex says they both want to put right in 2026.
“After Christmas, get focused on making next year the best one year, which will not be easy but I’m feeling like I’m riding the best I’ve ridden,” Alex Lowes told WorldSBK.com at the Jerez test on 26–27 November. I’m enjoying it, understanding the bike well, the team’s doing a great job, so I can be quite optimistic going into next year.
“My brother’s [Sam Lowes] going to be really fast as well, so he’s going to be a pain in my ass, let’s say.
“We’re going to work hard together this winter so we’re both fighting at the front together.
“Our target – which we didn’t achieve this year – is to be on the podium together, and after that let’s see what we can do.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
