Van der Mark in World Supersport mix on day one

[totalmotorcycle]

Van der Mark in World #Supersport mix on day one




#Pata @Honda rider Michael van der Mark finished fourth in the second of today’s two World Supersport free practice sessions at Phillip Island in Australia with the pace being set by world champion Kenan Sofuoglu.

Hardly any riders took part in this morning’s opening practice session at the 4.445km circuit after morning showers left the track surface wet; revised regulations led to World Supersport teams opting to save their tyre allocation for later in the weekend when the weather is expected to improve.

With the circuit dry for this afternoon’s session, van der Mark was looking comfortable before a crash at Phillip Island’s Lukey Heights meant he was forced to return to his pitbox, losing almost half the 45-minute session while his crew repaired damage to his Honda CBR600RR machine.

His Pata Honda team-mate Lorenzo Zanetti suffered technical problems and also lost around 20 minutes, eventually finishing in 14th place.



Michael van der Mark - 4th, 1m34.294s

It was quite boring this morning and we didn’t go out in first practice because of the rain. The forecast is looking OK so we chose to save some tyre stickers. This afternoon the track was dry but the wind was in a different direction from the test earlier in the week, which made it a little difficult. My first few laps were quite OK and then, when I was on a fast lap, I missed a gear so I crashed at Lukey Heights. The guys were able to fix the bike really fast so could go out for the last 15 minutes but it’s difficult to be happy. The crash was for nothing and I’m not happy with the lap time. I hope that tomorrow we can improve some things on the setting and I can avoid any more stupid mistakes.





Lorenzo Zaneti - 14th, 1m35.140s

I’m a little bit disappointed because we missed the first practice this morning because the weather was pretty bad. This afternoon I had a problem with the bike from the first lap so I had to stay in the pitbox for half the session. When I got out again, the problem was not completely fixed and I couldn’t make a good lap time. Fortunately, it wasn’t a qualifying session today and I think we have seen where we had the problem. For tomorrow everything should be OK.





Ronald ten Kate - team manager

We just sat in the garage this morning so it all came down to this afternoon when the track was dry. Michael had set the second fastest time when he had a crash. He managed to return the bike and we were able to fix it but when he went out he was unable to improve his time. Fourth place is OK with a time that he did in the test, so it’s no big drama. We had some technical issues with Lorenzo’s bike which was not functioning correctly so we struggled a little and he ended up 14th, which is disappointing for him. We know he is faster than this so we need to improve the bike for him tomorrow.