WorldSBK 2016 - Top 6 finish for Hayden in opening race at MotorLand Aragón

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@WorldSBK 2016 - Top 6 finish for @Hayden in opening race at @MotorLand #Aragón
Round 3 – Aragon
MotorLand Aragón, Spain



The Honda WorldSBK Team has contested the third-round opening race of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship at MotorLand Aragón. Nicky Hayden had a solid race to sixth place, while Michael van der Mark experienced his first DNF of the year.
The two riders did not enjoy their best qualifying of the year so far. After starting directly from the second session, Michael van der Mark was on his way to a quick lap, before losing the front of his bike on the kerb outside of turn 7. The young Dutchman and his bike slid on the asphalt, with van der Mark having to quickly get back on his feet and run off the track to avoid any major accident with oncoming riders. The first one to come past was his team mate, who brilliantly moved out of the way and slowed down, eventually losing the chance to improve his position.
After a great launch from tenth place on the grid, Nicky Hayden rode a solid race around the top 5, battling with Ducati’s Davide Giugliano and Xavi Fores for fourth place and showing good pace aboard his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP. In the final stages of the race, as the grip started to reduce, Nicky Hayden had to back off, eventually crossing the line sixth.
Michael van der Mark had a great start to the race from row 4 and was running in sixth position in the early stages of the encounter, before a crash at turn 5 on the fourth lap ruled him out of contention. The 23-year-old Dutchman was unable to remount and therefore had to retire.
The team will now analyse the data gathered today in order to be ready for the second and final race of the third round, scheduled for tomorrow at 13:00 local time (GMT+2).







Nicky Hayden 69
6th
Things didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked today. In qualifying, I was having a good lap before Michael crashed in front of me. Even though he was up and away, both he and the bike were still sliding on the track so I had to back off. I made a good start to the race and was feeling really good, but then I had too big a drop off in terms of grip, so maybe the tyre choice was not the best for today. Yesterday’s crash did not allow me to test different solutions, so we had to go with what we knew. We will try something different tomorrow morning and let’s see what race two will be like.
- Honda WorldSBK







Michael van der Mark 60
DNF
It surely hasn’t been my best day. This morning I was feeling really good but then in Superpole, when I put my Q tyre on, I was exiting turn 7 and my front wheel was up in the air; as soon as it came back down I basically had no grip at all and crashed out. The boys did an outstanding job in fixing the bike in such a short time. I had a good start to the race and was able to ride with the front-runners, but straight away I felt I didn’t have the same level of grip I had in practice. I had to push a bit more with the front and this is why I crashed again at turn 5. It’s a big shame for today, because we had a chance for a very good result. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to redeem myself.
- Honda WorldSBK







Pieter Breddels
Technical Manager
It has been a rough day, no doubt about it. After what happened in qualifying, we were hoping for a bounce back in the race and it all seemed to be going the right way in the early stages. Nicky did a great job in staying in contention for fourth until the final laps, but then he had a big drop in terms of grip and had to ride it home to sixth place. Tomorrow morning we will try a different tyre combination in warm up to see if we can improve on the long run. Michael unfortunately had his second crash of the day but luckily he’s not hurt. We’re aware of what happened so it’s all a matter of stay focused an try again tomorrow.
- Honda WorldSBK