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Friday Aragon 2016

GREAT START TO ARAGON WEEKEND FOR VAN DER MARK

  |   News Racing

The Honda WorldSBK Team has completed its first day at the third round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship, which is currently underway at the MotorLand Aragón circuit in Spain. Michael van der Mark successfully qualified to tomorrow’s Superpole 2, after claiming third in the combined classification of today’s two free practice sessions.

The day started really well for the Dutch-based squad, with Van der Mark finishing the first session, which was held under cooler conditions, in third place. As the afternoon approached, conditions got significantly warmer, with track temperatures rising from 17°C to 40°C. This change necessitated a considerable amount of extra work on the setup of the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machines. After testing some changes at the front of his bike, van der Mark was able to elevate himself to third place in the latter stages of free practice 2, logging a 1’51.337.

Michael van der Mark (3rd / 1’51.337): „Third place is a great result for today, especially because my feeling at the front was not perfect. We still have some work ahead of us in order to be ready for the race, but we know what areas need our attention and the bike is proving to be really competitive here. We made a big improvement this afternoon and we were able to be both fast and consistent, which is good news. Our gap to Tom Sykes is still a bit bigger than I’d have hoped but we’re improving in the right direction.”