Van der Mark ends debut WSBK season strongly under Qatar lights

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Van der Mark ends debut WSBK season strongly under Qatar lights

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Van der Mark ends debut @WSBK season strongly under @Qatar lights

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Michael van der Mark continued the impressive finish to his debut World Superbike championship by taking his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP to two top five finishes in today’s final races of the 2015 season at Losail in Qatar.

The races were won by Jordi Torres and Leon Haslam but, starting from ninth place on the grid for both 17-lap outings, van der Mark was able to maintain the superb pace he had shown in the opening three free practice sessions, taking fifth place in race one and improving to fourth in race two.

It was only when the grip from his rear tyre began to drop off in both outings that the 22-year-old Dutch ace was forced to reduce his pace but, with a points haul of 80 points from the final seven races of the season, van der Mark retains seventh place in the 2015 WSBK championship standings.

For his team-mate Sylvain Guintoli the Qatar races marked his final World Superbike outings on the CBR. The French rider suffered from technical problems during free practice and qualifying and started tonight’s floodlit races at the 5.380km Losail circuit from 13th on the grid.

Guintoli was able to improve on his grid position to take tenth place in race one but enjoyed a much more positive second encounter, matching the lap times of the leading riders and eventually crossing the line in fifth place, behind his Honda team-mate, but ahead of van der Mark in sixth place in the championship points table.




Michael van der Mark - 5th and 4th

The weekend has been great after we started really well on Friday. The CBR felt good and the pace was strong and we were able to improve on Saturday, except in Superpole, which wasn’t so good. Tonight in race one I didn’t have the same grip as the other guys in the early laps so I had to push hard and that used up the tyres too quickly but I was able to finish in fifth. For race two we changed the bike a little bit and the pace of the front guys wasn’t as fast as in race one. I had the same kind of pace as those guys and I could stay with them but I couldn’t really get past. I kept pushing but in the last few laps the tyres were completely gone. I’m happy with two solid results for the end of the season and looking forward to start work for 2016 during testing next month.





Sylvain Guintoli - 10th and 5th

It was a tough last weekend but there were definitely some positives. In the middle of race two we had a good pace, similar to the guys at the front, and that felt quite good. But we had some issues with the bike during Friday and Saturday unfortunately so it’s been a difficult weekend. At least in race two, despite a bad start, I was able to claw my way closer to the front and the pace was quite good. We changed a lot after race one – went for the softer tyre, changed the gearing and the swing arm length. But I got stuffed a bit into the first corner and then did my best lap mid-race. The weekend has been a reflection of the whole season really: we’ve had some good moments but some struggles too. In the end we stuck together as a team and worked really hard on three sides – the team, Honda and my self – and I’m happy with that.





Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator

Sylvain started in the middle of the pack in race one but wasn’t able to get into some really good lap times. In the second race he got into a good rhythm and matched the pace of the front riders which took him away from the second group for fifth place. It was a great effort after the problems earlier in the weekend and we wish him all the best in his new adventure for 2016. Michael had really good pace all weekend but we put some used tyres in for warm-up and that didn’t really work. He got a reasonable start in race one but had to settle for fifth spot. He was in the front group for race two though and had really good pace. But lap-by-lap, sector-by-sector he had to let go a bit as his tyre went, but he still finished in fourth place. I think he pushed to get the best possible result from the bike here and we’re happy to finish the season with these results. With Nicky Hayden joining Mikey for next season, we’ve got some exciting plans and a great line-up as we head into the winter tests.






Weather
Night Race


Air
32°C


Track
37°C


Humidity
57%






Race 1 Results

1 Jordi Torres 33m40.883s ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils
2 Jonathan Rea +0.726s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Tom Sykes +6.579s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Chaz Davies +7.889s GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
5 Michael van der Mark +13.512s NED HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team
6 Leon Haslam +17.755s GBR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils
7 Xavi Fores +23.590s ESP DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
8 David Salom +26.417s ESP KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
9 Leandro Mercado +26.489s ARG DUCATI BARNI Racing Team
10 Sylvain Guintoli +27.979s FRA HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team




Weather
Night Race


Air
31°C


Track
34°C


Humidity
56%






Race 2 Results

1 Leon Haslam 33m45.745s GBR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils
2 Chaz Davies +0.110s GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
3 Tom Sykes +0.388s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Michael van der Mark +7.653s NED HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team
5 Sylvain Guintoli +14.487s FRA HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team
6 Leandro Mercado +19.363s ARG DUCATI BARNI Racing Team
7 Randy de Puniet +22.468s FRA SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
8 Niccolo Canepa +22.530s ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
9 David Salom +27.596s ESP KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
10 Ayrton Badovini +29.294s ITA BMW JR Racing Team


Championship Standings

1 Jonathan Rea 548 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
2 Chaz Davies 416 pts GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
3 Tom Sykes 399 pts GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
4 Leon Haslam 332 pts GBR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils
5 Jordi Torres 247 pts ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils
6 Sylvain Guintoli 218 pts FRA HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team
7 Michael van der Mark 194 pts NED HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team
8 Leandro Mercado 142 pts ARG DUCATI BARNI Racing Team
9 Matteo Baiocco 139 pts ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
10 Alex Lowes 135 pts GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
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