Front row for van der Mark at home

[totalmotorcycle]

Front row for van der Mark at home



#Pata #Honda #rider Michael van der Mark will start tomorrow’s third round World Supersport championship race from the front row of the grid after setting the third fastest time in this afternoon’s qualifying session at Assen in the Netherlands.

The 21-year-old Dutch rider has been in impressive form all weekend and put a number of consistent mid-1m38s laps during the 45-minute session, his best being 1m38.228s, just one tenth off pole position man Florian Marino and 0.003s behind second-placed Kenan Sofuoglu.

Van der Mark’s Pata Honda team-mate, Lorenzo Zanetti, made a good step forward today, adjusting his riding style on his Honda CBR600RR machine to suit the fast-flowing characteristics of the 4.542km Assen circuit and the tighter elements of the first sector.

Zanetti ended the day seventh fastest and will start tomorrow’s 18-lap race from the head of the third row.



Michael van der Mark - P3, 1m38.228s

I’m really happy because we’ve been fast all weekend. I improved on my fastest lap here and then I was able to show that we had a really good pace. In the past, my single lap in qualifying wasn’t always very good but I pushed really hard today because I had the feeling that I could go for pole position, which would have been amazing at my home race. Unfortunately, on my fastest lap, I was badly held up by another rider. I took a slow lap to re-set and on my last lap I was almost crashing everywhere – it was really fast but I had to slow again a little bit in the final sector. We have a really good race pace and I’m hoping for a dry race tomorrow.





Lorenzo Zanetti - P7, 1m38.843s

After free practice this morning I was a little angry and disappointed because I was losing so much time in the first sector. This afternoon I focused on this area and Michael [van der Mark] helped me on my first outing to show me a good line. Then I made a big step so I was happy. Of course, my target was the first two rows, but I lost a little bit at the end of qualifying. I need to find a good rhythm tomorrow and then I think I can fight near the front like in Aragon. I want to thank the whole team because they have helped me after a difficult start to the weekend.





Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator

Michael has been strong in all sessions, including qualifying, and just missed pole by a tenth. He’s third on the grid but his race pace is really fast so, if it’s dry tomorrow, it’s looking really good. Lorenzo had a difficult morning but he improved a lot in qualifying. We let him go behind Michael and he improved but then he did it on his own and we’re happy he was able to improve his pace. I think the guys are just about ready.






Weather
Overcast


Air
18°C


Track
20°C


Humidity
55%






Qualifying Results

1 Florian Marino 1m38.106s FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
2 Kenan Sofuoglu 1m38.225s TUR KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
3 Michael van der Mark 1m38.228s NED HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
4 Jules Cluzel 1m38.334s FRA MV MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport
5 Jack Kennedy 1m38.762s IRL HONDA CIA Insurance Honda
6 Kev Coghlan 1m38.792s GBR YAMAHA DMC Panavto-Yamaha
7 Lorenzo Zanetti 1m38.843s ITA HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
8 Marco Bussolotti 1m38.857s ITA HONDA Team Lorini
9 Patrick Jacobson 1m38.917s USA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
10 Raffaele De Rosa 1m38.979s ITA HONDA Core PTR Honda