Van der Mark second on opening day at Donington Park

[totalmotorcycle]

Van der Mark second on opening day at #Donington Park



Michael van de Mark set the second-fastest overall time in today’s opening two free practice sessions for round five of the 2014 World Supersport championship at Donington Park in the UK.

Provisional pole position was taken by Kenan Sofuoglu who was just 0.1s faster than the van der Mark who lapped the 4.023km Donington Park circuit on his Honda CBR600RR in a time of 1m31.313s.

His Pata Honda team-mate, Lorenzo Zanetti, was fifth fastest today and in close contention for a provisional front-row slot with a time of 1m31.658s. The Italian rider, who won at his home race in Imola last time out, is happy with the opening day.



Michael van der Mark - P2

Today was really good and we started very well this morning. Immediately, I had a good feeling with the track and with my CBR and finished the first session in first position. In the second session we changed a little bit on the bike and I was able to improve further my lap time. I also had a good, steady race pace which was quite fast and, at the end, we tried some other stuff which didn’t really work. But I’m happy with today – I’m much faster than last year and I’m really close to the front.





Lorenzo Zanetti - P5

In the end I’m quite close to first place, which is positive, I think. This morning I wasn’t really comfortable because I tried a different gearing which didn’t work, so we came back to standard this afternoon. Also I tried some different tyre options but came back to the SC1 and was immediately faster. But then there were some spots of rain which was a shame because I was red in the first two sectors and just lost some time in the last two corners. But the positive thing is that I know where I lost the time and I will work with the team to improve in this area. I hope for some good weather tomorrow but I think it will rain. Anyway, I’m ready to fight.





Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator

Michael has been fast today in both sessions and got into a good rhythm this afternoon when he did his trick of going faster and faster on used tyres. We didn’t really change the bike a lot and he’s looking strong. Lorenzo tried some new things this morning but this afternoon we went back to some normal settings. He struggled to get a rhythm and the grip levels were not great but he’s only a few tenths off. It might be a different ball game tomorrow if it rains, so we’ll see.






Weather
Overcast


Air
18°C


Track
19°C


Humidity
44%






Free Practice Results

1 Kenan Sofuoglu 1m31.196s TUR KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
2 Michael van der Mark 1m31.313s NED HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
3 Kev Coghlan 1m31.340s GBR YAMAHA DMC Panavto-Yamaha
4 Florian Marino 1m31.568s FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
5 Lorenzo Zanetti 1m31.658s ITA HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
6 Patrick Jacobson 1m31.669s USA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
7 Jack Kennedy 1m31.870s IRL HONDA CIA Insurance Honda
8 Roberto Tamburini 1m31.934s ITA KAWASAKI San Carlo Puccetti Racing
9 Raffaele De Rosa 1m32.033s ITA HONDA Core PTR Honda
10 Jules Cluzel 1m32.204s FRA MV MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport