Van der Mark secures damp pole position at #Donington Park
Pata Honda’s Michael van der Mark took his debut World Supersport pole position for tomorrow’s fifth-round championship race at Donington Park in the UK after setting the fastest time in today’s wet qualifying session.
The 21-year-old Dutch rider, who currently leads this season’s World Supersport series, guided his Honda CBR600RR around the slippery 4.023km Donington circuit in a time of 1m46.220s, more than three quarters of a second faster than second placed rider Kenan Sofuoglu.
Van der Mark’s Pata Honda team-mate Lorenzo Zanetti wasn’t able to get the maximum performance from his own CBR in today’s tricky conditions and will start tomorrow’s 20-lap race at Donington Park from the third row of the grid after setting the seventh-fastest time.
Michael van der Mark - P1
I’m really pleased. We were really fast in the dry yesterday and I had a lot of fun, so I was a little disappointed that it was raining today. I didn’t really push this morning and just focused on the setting in the rain and we proved then that the set-up was working. It started to rain quite heavily at the start of the qualifying session and, when it stopped, I said to the guys that I needed to do more laps because I need to feel more confident. The track was really slippery and to take my first pole position in those conditions was the last thing I expected. But the bike feels good in wet or dry, so I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.
Lorenzo Zanetti - P7
Those were difficult conditions but I was able to find a rhythm. I made a mistake near the end so on my last lap I was careful not to crash as I was on the second row. Unfortunately, two guys overtook me so I start from row three. I lost the rear a few times and nearly crashed. In dry conditions I am close to the front and think I can fight with Mikey (van der Mark) and Kenan Sofuoglu, but congratulations to Mikey for his pole position.
Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator
It’s been wet all day today and both guys struggled a little this morning. Lorenzo still lacks a little confidence, so we’ll look into that, Michael’s changes worked out OK and he took a magnificent pole position. He was really strong and his times kept improving, so I think he can be a podium contender wet or dry. Lorenzo has to come from a little further back, but we’ve seen him do that before, so he needs a good warm-up to give him the confidence to rush to the front.
Weather
Wet
Air
15°C
Track
15°C
Humidity
62%
Qualifying Results
1 Michael van der Mark 1m46.220s NED HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
2 Kenan Sofuoglu 1m46.983s TUR KAWASAKI MAHI Racing Team India
3 Kev Coghlan 1m47.932s GBR YAMAHA DMC Panavto-Yamaha
4 Patrick Jacobson 1m48.158s USA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
5 Marco Bussolotti 1m48.515s ITA HONDA Team Lorini
7 Lorenzo Zanetti 1m49.102s ITA HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
8 Jules Cluzel 1m49.579s FRA MV MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich Motorsport
9 Riccardo Russo 1m49.702s ITA HONDA Team Lorini
Van der Mark secures damp pole position at Donington Park
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Van der Mark secures damp pole position at Donington Park
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