Michael van der Mark will start tomorrow’s last two races of the 2015 World Superbike championship from the third row of the grid after setting the ninth fastest time in this evening’s Superpole sessions at Losail International Circuit in Qatar.
The Dutch rider continued the impressive pace shown yesterday into Free Practice 3 this evening, ending the session second fastest. However, van der Mark’s qualifying tyre in Superpole 2 did not offer the expected level of grip to allow him to push for the front two rows for tomorrow’s two 17-lap races at the 5.380km Losail circuit.
His Honda team-mate Sylvain Guintoli had no better fortune in tonight’s Superpole after the technical gremlins that plagued yesterday’s efforts returned to restrict his track time even further.
A trouble-free FP3 allowed the French rider to make some progress in refining the setting on his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP, but an electrical problem forced him into the pits before completing a flying lap in SP1. The only opportunity for the 33-year-old to improve his position was the first lap on his qualifying tyre but, with the lack of track time, Guintoli could do no better than 13th.
Michael van der Mark - P9 1m58.034s
In FP3 earlier we altered a couple of things on the bike but it still wasn’t quite right, so we changed the front tyre and the confidence came back. In the second half of FP3 we were able to be really fast and consistent. But in Superpole I just didn’t have enough grip from the qualifying tyre and I ended up ninth. But the overall pace is much better so I’m looking forward to the races tomorrow.
Sylvain Guintoli - P13 1m58.768s
It was just another problem today, I’m not sure what it was but the bike wasn’t working properly in Superpole so I had to pit in straight away for the guys to look at it. They fixed it but it just didn’t feel right. We haven’t had much trouble this season but it seems like it’s hitting us here. A lot. That’s the third session out of four that we’ve suffered. I had to push a bit too much on the only lap I got on the qualifying because I’ve not had much track time. I needed those extra couple of laps on the race tyre to get into a bit of a rhythm. I’ll have to use FP4 to rebuild the confidence and the rhythm but we’re not done yet!
Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator
Sylvain has not had a good weekend so far and has been plagued by little technical problems stopping him getting laps and getting into a rhythm. This continued into Superpole which left him 13th but that is not where he belongs. Michael has been going really well, especially in FP3, but in Superpole it looks like the tyre just did not have the grip that you would normally get from a qualifier. This is very unfortunate because I’m quite sure he could have got on to the second or even the front row. But we know he can start well and has challenged for podiums from even further back on the grid and we’re still on the third row. I believe we can still do a good job tomorrow
Weather
Night Race
Air
30°C
Track
34°C
Humidity
76%
Qualifying Results
1 Tom Sykes 1m56.821s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Jonathan Rea 1m56.997s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Xavi Fores 1m57.384s ESP DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
4 Chaz Davies 1m57.406s GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
5 Leon Haslam 1m57.449s GBR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils
6 Jordi Torres 1m57.601s ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils
7 Alex Lowes 1m57.638s GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
8 Randy de Puniet 1m57.644s FRA SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
9 Michael van der Mark 1m58.034s NED HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team
10 Leandro Mercado 1m58.565s ARG DUCATI BARNI Racing Team
13 Sylvain Guintoli 1m58.768s FRA HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team
