Pata Yamaha Battle Back in Buriram Race 1

Race

The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team fought hard in the hot and humid conditions at the Chang International Circuit during Race 1 on Saturday for Round 2 of the 2018 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship in Thailand. Michael van der Mark got a solid start from tenth on the grid before enjoying another superb battle with his teammate and the front group, eventually finishing in seventh after he suffered from a lack of grip towards the end of the race.

Van der Mark ended Friday's practice in seventh overall and, like his teammate, he impressed in the morning's FP4 session to finish in fifth with a 1:33.643. The 25-year-old Dutch rider showed good improvement in SP2 and qualified for Race 1 at the head of the fourth row in tenth after shaving another couple of tenths off his best time to set a 1:33.373. When the lights went out for Race 1, the 2014 WorldSSP Champion got a solid start but did not quite have the same sensation with his R1 under braking as he had enjoyed throughout the weekend. Focusing on trying to find a good rhythm, he showed incredible consistency throughout the race, with every lap apart from the first in the low to mid 1:34's.

Fighting his way through the pack, he was up to seventh by lap six and then passed Marco Melandri for sixth on lap ten, only to find himself in another stunning scrap with his teammate  Passing each other a number of times, the two Pata Yamaha riders put on a show for the passionate Thai fans before van der Mark's grip levels started to fade at the end of the race. Battling hard, he tried to keep with his teammate as best he could and chase down the riders in front but, unfortunately, he could not make any inroads into the gap to Sykes ahead. Crossing the line in a creditable seventh position, van der Mark secured nine championship points which sees him eighth in the overall standings with 25 points. He will start Sunday's Race 2 from fourth on the grid and, he is confident if he can make some small improvements to his Pata Yamaha R1 he will have the race pace to battle for the podium.

The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team return to action at the Chang International Circuit at 11:30 am local time on Sunday in Buriram for Warm Up, with the 20-lap Race 2 scheduled to start at 4 pm. Check out the full Race 1 results from Thailand.

Michael van der Mark

Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team - 7th +8.500s

"I had to start from 10th on the grid and had quite a good start, but nothing special. To be honest, right from when the lights went out I was struggling under braking and with my grip levels and so it was quite difficult to race. I managed to be quite consistent, so I was really happy with that and we knew it was going to be a really tight race, so we had to be very consistent and not make any mistakes. I started to close the gap to the guys in front of me step by step and I had another great battle with Alex but towards the end, unfortunately, I started to struggle really badly under braking and I could not follow him anymore. This gives us something to work on for tomorrow and let's see what we can do in the race from P4 on the grid!"

Paul Denning

Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team Principal

"It was a very positive, yet, in some ways frustrating first race here at Buriram. As we saw at Phillip Island, the extremely close racing has been repeated here in Thailand but, unfortunately,neither riders were able to maximise track position in the early laps and if you are running in tenth position, however fast you are  able to go with a clear track in front of you, it is very difficult to maintain the lap times of the leaders when you have to fight your way through  - especially with everyone so closely matched in the first half of the race. Michael, as always, was very similar to teammate in pace, just didn't have quite as much left in the bike to fight in the last five laps. There are some clear targets for both the riders to improve the settings of the R1 for tomorrow, but we cannot be disappointed with the potential of the performance and we are looking forward to racing tomorrow."