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A DAY OF MIXED FORTUNE FOR THE BMW MOTORRAD WORLDSBK TEAM IN ASSEN

  |   News Racing

The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team did not have the best start to this morning’s FP3 session as Michael van der Mark missed the full session due to a mechanical issue, putting him on the backfoot for Superpole. Michael struggled to match the pace of the front runners in the Superpole as he put himself in P9 for the start of Race 1 after trying to set another fast lap on an expired “Q-tyre”.

 

In Race 1, Michael initially got a difficult start on his BMW M 1000RR wheelieing off the line but throughout the race was running a fast pace and lap by lap was climbing the leader board with 3rd position in his sights. Unfortunately, with 2 laps from the end the red flag was brought out prematurely ending the race.

 

Michael: “It was a tough Saturday, to be honest. This morning, I did not do any laps as we had a mechanical problem and so we went straight into Superpole. We thought we can do two laps with the qualifying tyre but I could just do one so it was quite tough. P9 on the grid wasn’t great, and also my start was not the best. I had some wheelieing and lost some positions there, then I got a bit of wrangling with another rider going into turn one and the first lap wasn’t really clean, but then straight away I had a good pace and I managed to pass some riders one by one. At the end I had a similar pace as the guys in front of me who were fighting for the podium but I just could not get any closer. We need to find a little bit extra grip to have the pace so I can battle with them.”