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Michael van der Mark - Thailand

TOP FIVE FOR VAN DER MARK AS YAMAHA START STRONGLY IN THAILAND

  |   News Racing

Michael van der Mark enjoyed a strong opening day at Round 2 of the FIM Superbike World Championship in Thailand as the Pata Yamaha WorldSBK rider ended the day in fifth. It was van der Mark who made the early running in this morning’s opening free practice, which was run in sweltering conditions at the 4.554km Chang International Circuit. The Dutchman was immediately on the pace and continued to improve his lap time throughout the session to end third on the timesheet. Van der Mark continued to refine the set-up of his Yamaha YZF-R1 during FP2 this afternoon and was rewarded with an improvement in his lap time compared to FP1. A time of 1’33.562 was enough to see him finish the day fifth.

 

Free Practices Combined Results after FP2

 

Michael van der Mark – Pata Yamaha WorldSBK – P5 – 1’33.562: “This is a track I enjoy riding and I always seem to go well here. This morning I felt good from the start, with just a few small changes to the bike enough to see me finish the session in third place. I was happy with that. This afternoon we tried a few more changes to try and improve the turning and increase the amount of rear grip available, with mixed results initially. However, we made some small improvements towards the end of the session and I was able to improve my lap time on my final run. The pace is there, as is the consistency, so I’m satisfied with where we are right now, but I’m missing a bit the feeling with the front still, so that’s something we need to look at tomorrow. If we can put everything together then we’ll be in a strong position for the first race.”