Sam Lowes has pulled the wraps off the Ducati Panigale V4 R he will race in 2024 ahead of his much anticipated maiden season in the WorldSBK Championship.

The Englishman makes the switch to the series - joining twin brother and Kawasaki Racing Team rider Alex Lowes - after a decade spent competing in the Grand Prix World Championship at Moto2 and MotoGP level.

Lowes joins Marc VDS Racing - with whom he raced in Moto2 between 2020 and 2023 - in mounting a WorldSBK challenge for the first time this season, the Belgian outfit adding a fourth independent Ducati to the grid.

Revealing a livery boasting the familiar burgundy and yellow hues of Marc VDS Racing’s Moto2 machines, Lowes says cannot wait to get the team’s new WorldSBK endeavour officially underway.

“I’m very happy and proud to continue working with this great team and to be riding for Marc once again,” Lowes said. 

“It’s a big new challenge for me to change category after a long time and I’m very happy and motivated to start. I’d like to say a huge thanks to Marc for asking me to be the first rider for his team in WorldSBK. 

“The bike is beautiful and it’s an amazing feeling to ride a Ducati. The livery is fantastic and it’s so special to represent Marc and this team in WorldSBK. 

“I’m really excited to continue working with my new crew chief Giovanni [Crupi] to progress my understanding of the bike, I just need to learn the bike, tyres, and format over a race weekend with the three races. “

Having already sampled his Ducati machinery in a test at Jerez in December, Lowes believes he has a package capable of challenging at the sharp end of the field.

“The first goal in the tests will be to make the bike mine and feel comfortable,” he continued. “I just need laps and mileage on the bike to understand many things.

“But this will come and if we had to go racing today, I feel we could do a good job. The goal though is to fight at the front. I hope to be in the fight for podiums and wins and to learn a lot. 

“Also being the top Independent rider has to be a target.”

The season marks a return to the WorldSBK paddock for Lowes, 11 years on from clinching the 2013 WorldSSP title on the Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha R6 prior to joining the Moto2 fray.