Voltcom Suzuki’s Alex Lowes finally feels that his rookie year in the World Superbike championship has begun after a faultless performance in race two at Assen, which subsequently led to his maiden podium in the class after a second place finish.

Lowes has had a difficult start after crashing in Phillip Island and at Aragon, but now being at a track that he knows so well the reigning MCE British Superbike champion has found some confidence, after getting some solid points this weekend.

In race one Lowes, starting from ninth on the grid, battled hard on his GSX-R to challenge the front runners, claiming second place on his fourth lap, and setting the first of his three fastest laps of the race. Lowes had previously mastered his best result of the championship so far with a ninth place finish in the morning's race one.

Battling with a number of riders the rookie set his personal fastest time on the 12th lap before the race was prematurely ended on a red flag at lap 17, seeing Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli victorious.

In race two the British rider seemed unperturbed by the afternoon’s two restarts due to the forecasted heavy rain as he continued to hunt down eventual winner Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea.

Closing the gap to the front, the Englishman set two further solid laps, securing the Pirelli Fastest Lap award with a 1’52.975 on his penultimate revolution, to claim his debut podium on only his third weekend on the world stage.

“It’s fantastic, it was a great race for me and it’s really good for the team for me to finally get on the podium! It was a wet race, so it’s never as nice as getting on the podium in the dry but I’m very happy and hopefully this can kick start our season after the injuries," said Lowes.

“It’s been a really difficult start to the year for me, and now I’ve got some good points on the board and a podium, I’m looking forward to hopefully improving both myself and the bike, and seeing if we can be a bit closer to the front in the dry.”