Pata Yamaha Excited for Misano WorldSBK Challenge

The Pata Yamaha Team are preparing for the next round of the WorldSBK at Misano see how they’re getting on in this report from Yamaha Racing.

The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team head to round seven of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship at Misano this weekend, excited to deliver on the potential shown during the first half of the season. Michael van der Mark just missed out on a rostrum in race two. Following a recent private test at the track, Van Der Mark is confident that he can make another step forward in Misano.

Van der Mark also showed great pace at Donington, only missing out on the podium in race two by 0.7s. The 24-year-old Dutch rider tried out a number of new updates in the test at Misano between rounds and feels that he is ready to take the next step to allow him to consistently fight for the podium. Van der Mark has tasted victory at Misano before in the Superstock 600 race in 2012 and is eager to put the information gained at the recent test to good use when he takes to the track on Friday morning.

The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli is a fast, flowing, and technical track located next to the picturesque town of Misano Adriatico in the province of Rimini, North East Italy. It held its first event in 1972 and the iconic track is 4.226km in length, consisting of ten right and six left-hand corners, and has a start-finish straight of 510m. The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team will hit the track at 9:45am Friday morning for Free Practice, with qualifying and race one on Saturday, and race two on Sunday.

Michael van der Mark

Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team

I'm looking forward to Misano. We had such a good test there, nearly 180 laps, and it really felt like we made a step forward. It's also good for me to arrive at a track where I have ridden with the YZF-R1 before, so we don't start have to start from zero. The weather is looking perfect, so we can just focus on working on race pace from Friday, and my aim is to get on the podium.

Paul Denning

Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team Principal

The first race in Misano will see us reaching the halfway point of the 2017 season and we are looking forward to building on the solid start that the first half has provided for the team. We need to retain the consistent approach that has helped us to develop the results step by step and sees both riders currently in the top six of the championship, but at the same time, we are also looking to move the performance of the 2017 R1 further ahead and get closer to fighting with the regular podium contenders. The recent test, which involved a very demanding schedule coming straight after Donington, gave us a great opportunity to test various hardware and software options, and more importantly, in a couple of areas where we need to improve it gave us a very clear development direction. We have had a very busy schedule for the development team during the last 10 days, but fingers crossed we will be able to hit the ground running in Misano on Friday and put these findings to good use.

Image source: Yamaha Racing